


Energon Coolant and Lubricant

by Emjoelle



Category: Transformers: Prime
Genre: Amica Endurae, Implied Slash, M/M, Male Friendship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-19
Updated: 2017-06-23
Packaged: 2018-06-09 08:00:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 36,351
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6896761
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emjoelle/pseuds/Emjoelle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bonds are discouraged among the Decepticon ranks and understandably so due to the fact they often make one soft. However, war is the perfect time for such bonds to develop as survival often depends on it. They don't have to be a weakness, sometimes they are used to sharpen each other as steel sharpens steel. Will become slightly AU to Prime. If you like slashy you can read it with those undertones or they have a close army buddy relationship for those who don't. It will be somewhat ambiguous.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. At first sight

Energon, Coolant…and Lubricant

Chapter 1: At First Sight: Breakdown

“Mechs stop showing off”, the large blue and orange wrecker called to his team mate. “Your recklessness is going to get us off lined before we even get a real shot at the Autobots.” Breakdown could feel the anger rise up in him at the way his teammates were handling the whole situation. Sure it could have gone better but they were alive to get revenge and end the war before it got started. That was what he told himself a vorn ago and yet it continued. “Let the anger drive you” Motormaster reminded the rather young team. He just hoped it wouldn’t drive them to stupidly turning on each other. Traitors were already showing up in the Decepticon ranks. Wildrider was throwing boulders around with little care and racing between them. “This was not what comes to mind when I hear the phrase wreckers call for clean up. We aren’t supposed to be cleaning up rocks from the battle ground.”

“Focus Mechs, our job is to clear this out and set up cover for ambush. I want it done quickly. Intel reports are that they are on the move” The bellowing voice of their leader rang out. 

“Sooner than we think,” Deadend reported, “they are coming already. ETA eleven breems and we seem to be out numbered.” He added “Even though we already have Tarn and reinforcements should be here.  
“Clearly they are not so let’s be ready to see to it that they need clean up. We don’t need the backup. Autobot energon will cover this ground today!”  
Construction of the barricade and preparation for the wreckers moved quickly after that. 

The “ambush’ was a disappointment to the Decepticon wrecker crew as the Autobot army that intel reported was coming was a handful of new Autobots escorting neutrals to what they thought would be a safe place. They made sure the Autobots joined the Allspark along with a few of the neutrals who refused to join the Decepticons. Breakdown escorted the new recruits to training.   
He was returning from the uneventful and boring task when he picked up Autobot signals closing in on their makeshift camp. He commed Motormaster.

“Yes, Breakdown we are more than aware of them” he could hear blaster fire getting closer. “We are already engaging them and there are far more this time, get your aft back here and stay alert. Motormaster out”  
He pulled off the main road into alley ways to cover and follow an old short cut he knew about as a sparkling. There was cover in the old condemned and abandoned buildings. He was sure he could stay undercover and take out a few along the way. He was almost back to base when an Autobot noticed him hiding. A wrecker he guessed from what he could see. 

“I know you’re in there Decepticreep and it is just you. No one shields that well. Come on out and fight me servo to servo. That is if ya aint cyber chicken.  
‘Who does the young both think he is?’ Breakdown thought to himself. “Hardly little Autobot punk. What makes you think you are ready for war? Go back home to your carrier!” Breakdown answered transforming.   
It wasn’t what Breakdown was expecting. The small yellow bot was as fast as he was arrogant and flipped behind him as Breakdown transformed. 

“Yep I knew ya were back there. You are big but you are slow. In more ways than one.” He taunted.  
Breakdown turned back and grabbed at the bot. Breakdown missed but threw off the bots aim as he was firing and instead of hitting him he struck the rafter of the building above him. It fell and hit him in the shoulder cutting the armor and several wires below it as he jumped one clipped his hip inflicting the same damage. “Scrap!” he swore taking pot shots at the Autobot who had transformed and raced off behind the building.  
“I’m still here. He taunted. Come catch me if you can!” He drove off in a streak of yellow.   
Breakdown attempted to transform and follow the brat but debris from the building was stuck in the joints. He was able to pull the one out of his arm but the one in his side was wedged in tight. It hurt more than he would care to admit. He was almost clear of the now collapsing building when a large piece of roofing fell hitting him square in the chest plates.   
He commed base and informed them of the situation. He would be slower coming back. He no longer heard sounds of battle at base and it was confirmed they had won without and without Decepticon causalities. Well without all but one stupid injury, his. “Scrap him to the Pit” Breakdown swore again as threw the shard off him with his good arm. He walked back to base through the shadows after he determined there were no others. Transforming would be difficult at best. He knew they had no medic currently serving with them so it would be a long few days until his systems could repair this. He doubted it would heal correctly without intervention. He made it back to base about two breems later.

“Mech, what happened to you?”

“Stupid Autobot shot a building down on me.” He answered trying to hide the ache in his back plates. 

“Let me see” the leader said and reached up to pull the shared out. It moved some and brought with it a gush of energon. “Mech, I hate to break the news but that doesn’t look good. We need to find a medic, the soon the better. “

“Affermative, I refuse to join the Allspark before getting revenge on that punk that did this. He got a lucky shot.” 

“Can you transform? Rolling back to headquarters would be much faster than walking, especially the way you are doing it.”   
He made another attempt. “Negative. Even without the chassis issue my hip seems to have taken damage along the transformation seam.” He grunted and kept walking leaving a small trail of energon behind.   
They got a kilometer and noticed a shinny bot working on his finish. 

“Hey pretty mech!” Motormaster bellowed. 

The red mech turned slowly and had the look of one who had been disturbed from the most important thing in the universe. 

“Hey pretty mech, are you a medic or not? I need you over here now!”

“Ah. fighting in the rings again, were you?” He asked in a condescending tone.

“Absolutely not!” Breakdown answered anger in his spark. Who did the arrogant little medic think he was speaking to a wrecker in such a tone? “Where have you been? The start of the war ended that nonsense. Bots do get hurt in honest ways, doctor! Ouch!” He fought the pain now shooting down his spinal struts. “Can you make the repairs or not?”

“No problem. It looks far worse than it actually is. It is fortunate you have such thick armor. This may sting. I have no pain killers on me at the moment. You may want to disable your pain receptors. Designation is Knockout, by the way.”

“Breakdown.” He replied. “And that won’t be necessary.”   
The doctor pulled back the damaged armor and began saudering the damaged lines. “Have it your way.” He finished quickly. “Anything else I can do for you?” He scanned him more deeply. “You took a splinter to the transformation seam in your leg and it clipped a nerve in the process.”  
Breakdown shrugged it off and was about to leave when his leader responded. “Fix it. We don’t have time for anything less than perfection. “

Knockout made the quick but precise repair and got his buffer.

“You can put that away. I am no femmebot. Wreckers do not need to be shiny”

“No one said you were. However, I am known for my body work and I will not have any patient of mine looking slagged.”  
Breakdown compromised with the one repair and allowed him to buff out the scar. “Thanks” He whispered just loud enough for the doctor to hear. “You might want to keep that handy though for yourself, with the war escalating you never know.”

“You can make it up later.” He said laughing. And he somehow knew he would get the chance. 

 

Knockout  
Knockout finished his work and cleaning up his tools. He was also contemplating his next move. The war was weighing on him and the fact that it seemed to go on without end. Both sides promised that they would end it quickly and it wasn’t happening. He was nervous that soon they would fight themselves into extinction. He hoped he could end that. That was part of the reason he was a medic. The other was so that he could have a chance to feel that he really wasn’t part of the caste system that initially brought on the war in the first place. He met all types of mechs and found all sorts of waxes and polishes. He was able to keep up appearances. 

Today Knockout had been working in the Decepticon camps. Maybe tomorrow he would find the Autobots, or perhaps he would stick around with the Cons for a few more days. He had yet to decide. Knockout hated seeing perfectly good, completely functioning things and bots turned to scrap. He especially hated the fact that he could easily become one of those bots, or worse have his finish scratched up beyond repair. That was why he decided to remain neutral and serve both sides as a medic. It gave him the perfect excuse to stay off the front lines, besides he knew his limitations. If he couldn’t run he would have problems.   
The job of medic was good for him. It was busy and satisfied the curiosity he had from the time he was a sparkling. He was good at taking things apart and rebuilding them. The only thing he found he really lacked was compassion. He did what he was supposed to and followed the book for pain management but that was really it. He tried to keep himself detached after the war began and people he had compassion on died. He found that his new philosophy. He learned to detach himself from pain and remind himself above all he was a scientist. 

It was a philosophy that worked far better with the Decepticons than Autobots. The Decepticons, for example, had no problem cannibalizing the dead for spare parts especially in triage facilities on the battlefield. He had concerns in doing it in the hospitals, before many of them fell, but on the battlefield it was all survival. The Autobots waited for those who were hurt beyond repair to die before using the parts insisting on making them comfortable in the last minutes. The cons, however, had a different idea of mercy. They ended the pain quickly and used uninjured parts for those who had a chance of living, so they could fight again. He couldn’t let his processor dwell on that reality. He had to make a living after all. It usually meant more work so more credits in the end for him. 

“Knockout, What are you doing? Get back in here I need you!”

“I’m coming Scalpel!” He answered the old surgeon in charge of this particular unit. He handed him the charts he was working on.

“I know you were supposed to be off three breems ago but we have incoming. Supposedly there were a couple of small skirmishes outside Praxus. I guess Megatron decided to stick his pede in the quicksilver before jumping in full force. When the city falls there will be plenty of work. Let’s take care of these injuries and set up for more. I think drones would have been a better option than actual scouts but what do I know? I’m a surgeon not a warrior.”

“Mmmhmm” Knockout responded before the first wave came in. Knockout quickly set up his triage quickly patched up the mesh wounds. There were enough of those alone he would have made a fortune in the private sector. Many seemed as obsessed about looks as he did. “I can’t buff it now; clearly there are ones who will offline soon. Buff yourself!” He told them sending them away. He took the code yellow sending the reds to Scalpel. 

“Take care of that one for me, Knockout. He is level 4, code black; I need a pump over here.” Scalpel called out.   
Knockout saw the unconscious mech whose helm was almost completely smashed. “How is he still venting?” Knockout asked himself scanning seeing only a faint spark signature. “Impossible” he thought. He transformed his arm into his saw and was about to end this one’s life. He hesitated and turned off his pain receptors, just in case.

“Hurry Knockout before the energon decays. I need those parts.”  
Knockout did as he was told and for some reason this time he was almost troubled by it. “Detach yourself, Knockout” he silently reminded himself. He’s offline already. He finished up in a blur and noticed the sun was already beginning to set. He was going to end the day with Decepticon ‘mercy’ on his spark, and he decided that the next day he would spend in the Autobot camps. Their incredible over the top soft sparks would help him regain his pull on reality. “Yes,” He thought,” working both sides keeps me rich, and sane.”  
He cleaned the energon off his arms and hands and was about to wax his arms when a booming voice called, “hey pretty mech!” Knockout knew they were addressing him when he saw another large mech leaning into him and leaving a trail of energon behind. “Great, not again! Primus, why do you hate me? Can I have at least a klick between ‘customers?” At least this one was walking. At least Primus didn’t hate him completely. 

“Hey pretty mech, are you a medic or not? I, we need you over here, now!”  
Knockout casually approached them. It was an ugly wound but it would be an easy repair. He scanned the mech. Energon reserves at 73% He wouldn’t bleed out anytime soon. “What happened to you? Been in the arena again?” Knockout was tired and suddenly snarky. 

“No, haven’t you heard? Before the war there was a new champion who was unstoppable, now real fighting has replaced the sport. Mechs do get hurt in honest ways doctor!”

“I suppose so.” He answered attempting to concentrate

“Can you fix it or not?” The larger mech asked

“Of course. It isn’t as bad as it looks. Fortunately for you your armor is so thick and it didn’t pierce your spark chamber. You may want to disable your pain receptors though”. He said addressing his patient now.” It may burn a bit and I have no pain killers on me. Designation is Knockout by the way.”

“Breakdown,” He answered, “and that won’t be necessary.”  
Knockout shook his helm the big ones were gluttons for pain in an attempt to prove themselves or something. He opened the undamaged chest plate so he could get a better look at the entry point of the debris. He sealed the torn wires and small energon veins around the wound and pulled out the metal. He quickly sealed of the main vein as another gush of energon ran down his arms. “You will want to refuel as soon as you leave but you’ll recover. It is like I said before not as bad as it looks, a glorified splinter” Knockout closed the chest plate and got some put metal over the wound to serve as a bandage until his self repair systems could fix the minor injuries. “ Is there anything else? You seem to have had recent nervous damage to your hip as you have been limping. It might affect your ability to transform properly.”

“I am okay” Breakdown answered and was about to attempt to transform.

“Fix it!” the larger mech all but ordered. “My soldiers will be in perfect order.”  
Knockout did the minor repairs and pulled out the buffer that he had recently used on himself. 

“You can put that away. I am not fembot! I don’t mind scars.”

“Understood, but I have a reputation for body work. What would others think if you looked slagged? I don’t do messy work.”

“What would they think of a shiny wrecker?” Knockout glared at him. “Fine just the one if you must.”  
Knockout’s optics shown a shade brighter. “Sure thing Breakdown.”

“Thanks” the large mech whispered.

“You can make it up to me at some point.” Knockout commed back. He watched them roll off. The encounter intrigued him. He was definitely in a better mood having actually got to make a repair but it wasn’t just because he was ending the day on a save. There was something about that mech that made his sparks rhythm change. He was also interested in the apparently relationship between the bot and his commander, if that was the right word. They usually didn’t care that much about their soldiers. He had some research left to do. He decided to stay with the cons a little bit longer after all.


	2. Pheonix Feathers

Breakdown  
The war had continued to escalate and it appeared it wasn’t going to end anytime soon. Praxus fell bringing with it unimaginable causalities on both sides, but it belonged to the Decepticons; at least what was left of it did. Attacks and counter attacks continued, and it seemed unless something was done they would all be dead or living on a dead planet. Dead End wasn’t the only member of the small team that was being paranoid. He was just the only one who ever voiced his opinions and Breakdown at least was growing weary of it. 

“Mechs we are about to do something that we haven’t done in a while. Intel reports the Autobots have more wreckers joining their side sense Praxus and there are reports that they are attempting to counter our air superiority. I am not sure how they plan on doing that but we are not going to stand around and see.” He hesitated looking around, certain that this was not going to go over well. Breakdown made optic contact long enough to guess what was coming and could feel anger rising in his spark. Motormaster could sense his team’s unease and anger but continued. “I imagine you all have guessed Megatron wants us to go and crush this. Specifically he wants Menasor to do it.”

The collective groan was felt before it was heard. They would crush anything that got in their way but it was always a drain on them as a whole and as individuals as it was a literal combination of processors and sparks. That was the reason they did it only under extreme cases, it took megacycles to recover. It had been almost 2 vorns since their last merge for real battle. 

“We will do it without complaining. That is an order!” Motormaster told them under no uncertain terms before they had the chance to complain. 

‘Sure’ Breakdown thought, ‘Megatron has never been part of a combiner team or shared his spark and processor in that kind of way. If he knew he wouldn’t be so anxious.’ He could feel the anger rise up in him toward Motormaster, Megatron, and the war in general.

“Use your anger” Motormaster continued.”Remember the Autobots made this a necessity. Supposedly they have recruited more wreckers and are attempting an airstrike and counter our known air superiority. That is what we are up against.”

‘Autobots, nothing’ Breakdown thought although he was ready to take his frustrations and combine them with the others and end this nonsense. If they were to do it they might as well go ahead. “When do we roll?” He finally asked resigning himself to the consequences of combining. Surely by now his spark was scarred enough that he would be numb. One more would make no difference. Maybe the bots would experiment with combining; maybe they would bond just to surer this too. Naturally he would never admit that out loud. ‘Shake it off and take it like a Decepticon’ he reminded himself. 

“We leave in 3 breems. It gives us enough time to combine quickly before we go as to not let the merge throw us off guard, as it has been a while. “

“There is one halfway good idea he has had today.” Dead End vented. Voicing the others thoughts yet again. 

They transformed into their vehicle modes and then into Menasor. The mental rush was far more intense than he remembered as the sense of his individuality was lost and his processor and consciousness merged into one single, albeit schizophrenic consciousness. His own spark slowed almost stopped before speeding up to catch the others and finally pulsing as one. He stepped and the clang of his metal pede on the ground rang out. Many of the new recruits had never seen a combiner team as one and were intimidated. “I’m glad he is on our side a small vehicon commented.”   
They remained that way for a couple of clicks and got reoriented before the command “Enough, separate” was ordered. The separation was more painful than Breakdown remembered and he recalled why he hated it. Like any bond he now had no secrets as they saw each other with crystal clarity. His only relief in that was that he too knew theirs and there would be plenty of blackmail should any of them were stupid enough to turn on the others. He laughed to himself. He would never have a bond mate, even if there was no war and no Decepticons. They refueled individual and all too soon it was time to do it again.

“Let’s bust some Autobot tailpipe!”

“They won’t know what hit them”, Wildrider announced suddenly ready. “Judging from our own team’s reaction this will be great!”  
They rolled into the battle and transformed. Breakdown was nearly blinded by the smoke and raining debris. Mech’s burnt frames from both sides littered the ground and energon pooled around them running in rivers. He focused again and in that astrosecond he was glad they had a practice run.   
The first several klicks they clearly had the advantage and all was going well due to the element of surprise. It seemed the battle was going in their favor until a small Autobot wrecker raced in creating blinding exhaust. There was blaster fire from all directions, including from above. Menasor wasn’t sure if it was Autobot or friendly fire as the ground seemed to spin and razor sharp pain hit his spark. Breakdown the slowly felt a disconnect as the others sparks ripped away and he became a single bot again. There was brightness around him. “The Allspark?” he whispered before blackness took him.   
He awoke some time later in excruciating pain as his spark felt as it were in a thousand pieces and each competing to beat. He was gasping as his vents were running too fast desperately trying to cool his frame, and he couldn’t feel his lower legs. “This isn’t how the well is supposed to be” he muttered, before his audio sensors came online and he could make out voices. 

“Code red in coming! Wreckers, doctor, several of them.” 

“Knockout, get over here. You take the Reds this time.”

‘Wreckers’, Knockout thought, ‘this isn’t good!’

“Doc? Knockout?” Breakdown tried to ask as energon pooled in his throat.

“Quiet!” The red mech ordered, “Don’t try to speak” To the others he ordered.”Put him here and initiate stasis!” “Don’t you go anywhere on me Breakdown!” Knockout whispered to his patient as his optics off lined.   
Breakdown awoke later and checked his internal chronometer. Thank Primus that was still online. It must mean his primary systems were running normally too. Two days passed and although still physically numb due to battle protocols and large amounts of pain killers in his system he immediately realized he could not feel the others. His spark skipped beats and his frame convulsed. He heard someone coming and forced his optics online. Knockout was standing over him with his arms crossed and red optics piercing his. He looked away and hoped Knockout couldn’t see his emotions, his spark’s turmoil there.

“Thanks for the near spark attack you almost caused me yesterday, fragger See to it that doesn’t happen again!” 

“I thought all you did was body work” Breakdown managed to whisper in reply. “I guess that makes two I owe you for.”

“You’re welcome.” Knockout answered. “What happened exactly? I was unaware the Autobots had that kind of fire power.”

“I don’t remember” Breakdown answered rubbing his helm. His process was beginning to ache again. 

“That is okay. Rest and recover your memories. There is much I need to know.” He administered a sedative.  
“Mmhmm” Breakdown answered as he fell into unconsciousness again. 

 

Knockout  
Knockout continued to play both sides of the war, however he noticed himself spending far more time with the Decepticons. There were several reasons for that, but the main reason was because he was slowly watching the planet die and the cons seemed to have more resources available leading to less scavenging around the camps. Rumor had it that both sides would soon be sending scouts off world to look for other Energon sources. Other rumors were circulating around the triage units that the Autobots were also in the process of developing new tech and weapons. Knockout didn’t cease to be curious about that tech and the relationships between the wreckers he met lunar cycles ago but he didn't get far with the research due to staying so busy.  
This morning was different though. It had been unusually slow. 'The calm before the acid storm' he thought to himself. He spent it in triage organizing the supplies and tending a few walking wounded from a few small battles and injuries from arguments from young recruits that turned physical. 'Idiots, he mused, 'sparklings really throwing themselves in to life and death situations.' His musings were interrupted by Scalpel, 

"It has been slow but things are going to turn. I want you having more experience leading the unit. You take the level threes today, should we have any. I will get another to run the triage and I will handle the level twos."

"Acknowledged," he answered thankful for the action and being something other than a scavenger or 'buzzard' as he was calling the triage unit and himself when he was working with the code black level 4’s.   
As he expected the so called clouds were rolling in with small battles. He repaired walking wounded and the worst he had was a couple of missing arms that got too close to small explosions he had been hearing. He was cleaning off the energon and other mech fluids on the operating tables when an explosion rocked through the unit. "That was way too close" Knockout muttered to those around him. "Here comes the storm." He barely had time to get back to the OR when the announcement came.

"Incoming wounded. ETA two klicks.”

Knockout quickly grabbed what he suspected he would need trying hard to settle his suddenly uneasy tanks. He ex-vented just as he realized the first patients would be wreckers.

"It was an ambush and no one is sure what really happened. There was exhaust fumes and exploding energon everywhere."

"Understood" Knockout told them. "Put that one over here." What he saw then nearly made his energon run cold. The large blue wrecker was unmistakable, and had shiny blue energon pouring out of a wound dangerously close to his spark chamber and also his leg.

"Doc? "Knockout, is it you? Breakdown tried to ask his voice raspy with static and gurgling from the energon in his throat.

"Quiet Breakdown! Don't try to speak right now." Knockout told him fighting to keep his vocalizer stable and his voice objective. "Put him here and initiate stasis" he told the solider.  
A quick scan revealed Breakdown's energon levels were down to thirty-two percent and falling fast. "I need energon here now!" Knockout ordered. He removed what was left of his chest plates, fighting the thought that it was way too much like another part harvesting surgery than one that would be successful. He pushed that thought away when he saw the damage. The blast missed his spark by centimeters and most of the outer covering of his chamber was gone. The inner chamber directly in contact with his spark was cracked in several places and quickly filling with coolant, which was sloshing dangerously close to his surprisingly strong but incredibly scarred spark. If the coolant, which was vital to a mech's systems, touched the spark it would extinguish it in astroseconds.

"Scrap!" he swore as energon continued to pour out. "Where is that energon I needed breems ago!" If he managed to save his spark chamber he didn't want him bleeding out. He siphoned out what coolant he could but it was a slow process, wasting time that he didn't have. There was a better way but he couldn’t do it alone.

"I need a hand turning him. This coolant has to come out and bring me that energon when you come along with more coolant. I don't want him bleeding out or overheating." He was becoming furious. The solider lifted the wrecker up and pulled him over to his side steadying him. The back plating was damaged and the Coolant drained quickly. Knockout sealed the severed lines before what was left of his external spark chamber could refill. He still had no idea how he was even alive. He had seen mechs with less severe injuries come in dead on arrival. He was stable for the moment with the exception of loosing energon and his fans running too high trying to compensate for coolant being everywhere but where it should be.

“Scrap! Where is that energon?!” Knockout screamed again. Knockout began to doubt he would get the energon needed and out of sheer desperation began to open his own small vein in his free hand. Breakdown's own system was too weak to recycle used energon at the moment and he was not about to get him this stable just to have him die to lack of energon. He could spare a little of his own. He wasn’t sure why he considered this and shook his helm. Just then supply came in.

"Primus, Mech it took you long enough" Knockout growled. "Go ready some more should the need arise, unless of course you want to be the donor!" Knockout looked up at him optics flaming.

"Yes sir!" he answered and hurried away.

The transfusion brought his reserves up slowly and Knockout refocused his energy on reconstructing the spark chamber. He was unsure what he would use when he looked down and saw all the parts he could need beside him. 'Only one bot here could have anticipated that "Knockout thought but didn't spend too much time on the idea.  
Megacycles and two more transfusions later Knockout repaired the damaged chamber, sealed ruptured coolant lines, and reattached Breakdowns leg. He was doing the final welding to the leg when Scalpel walked in and simply watched for a klick. "I'll finish up here and will let you know when he on lines. Go clean yourself up. We have much to talk about in the mean time!"  
Knockout knew where this conversation was going and he was not looking forward to it. He was taking inventory again when his mentor walked in.

"Knockout" the old doctor began, "Just so you know he is stable but it will be several more megacycles before he decides to join us and that is for the best. Your skill is indeed amazing but I want to know why you even bothered." His purple optics cut into Knockout with almost as much precision as his laser scalpel and the anger in his voice was impossible to miss. He ex-vented and continued. "He was level 4 code black. You should have brought me the spare parts, not the other way around! "

"I didn't know the full extent of his injuries until I opened him up." Knockout answered with a half truth. "The only definite thing on the scanners was a severe loss of energon. You don't scrap bots for that!" He hoped that his vocalizer didn't give away the fact he was lying and indeed knew better.

"Well enough, Knockout, but the consequences are yours alone to deal with." Scalpel told him, his grin not masking the fury still in his voice. "I hope you remember your psychological studies from repair school. Broken processors and sparks are far less straight forward and can be more difficult to handle than broken bodies."  
Knockout was slowly putting the pieces together from the little bit of studying he had done over the few lunar cycles on the unusual relationship he noticed between Breakdown and Motormaster, as well as the extensive scarring he saw on Breakdown's spark. "You mean they were a combiner team and if I had not of put him in stasis when I did-"

"He would have felt the others off line, quit fighting, and joined them in the Well with an honorable sacrifice." The older doctor finished for him. "And now, well, Primus be with you." He turned to leave. "Oh, and again technically great job out there, especially for someone who jokes about actually preferring to take them apart. There is potential in you youngling." He shook his head and left.  
Knockout spent a megacycle specifically researching combiner teams and various bonds. He reviewed his psychology studies as his mentor had suggested and before he was about to call it a day Scalpel came in. "I believe he is waking up now. You might want to be there."

"Thanks" Knockout answered and hurried to the post op.  
He stood at Breakdown's berth with his arms crossed fighting to keep his emotions in check as relief, exhaustion, and his own anger rushed through his spark. He watched Breakdown struggled bit to online his optics and wasted no time in telling the bug lug exactly what he thought. So much for control he thought. "Thanks for nearly giving me my own spark attack yesterday you fragger! See to it that you don't do it again."  
Breakdown looked away a bit disoriented still which was completely expected given the circumstances. He was surprised he was waking up this soon.

"Knockout? You are here? I thought you only did body work? He tried to smile

"You're welcome" Knockout answered sarcastically scanning him the whole time."I know you have lots of questions now Breakdown. Your energon levels are still lower than I would like. Take a little stasis nap while I transfuse you one more time and then when you have a little bit more energy we will talk as there is much to discuss."

"Mmmhmm" Breakdown agreed as the sedative took effect.

At dawn the next day Breakdown awoke and Knockout had spent the entire night doing his research at his berth side He felt he was ready to discuss things. "How long was I gone? What happened? Where are the others, why can't I feel them?"

"It has been two days sense the battle, you were severely injured in a battle with the Autobots. You shouldn't be able to feel anything. Your battle protocols are still engaged, your pain receptors are for the most part disabled, and there is a large amount of sedatives and pain killers in your system." He hoped that would satisfy him but he doubted it, as he knew full well what he was asking but perhaps he was finally ready to answer. He determined the most direct way was the least painful way to let him have the truth.

"No, I am talking about the others, why can't I feel Wild Rider, Dead End, Drag Strip, and Motormaster?"

"Breakdown, do you remember any of what happened out there?"

"We were winning the battle then there was a blinding cloud of exhaust and explosions. I, we were Menasor. After the quake and an explosion I felt a searing pain in my spark and then I lost the connection. I woke up briefly here but I could feel them all. Dead Ends spark was the weakest but he was online at the time. All of us were."

"Breakdown, I am afraid Dead End came in off line. I started working on you. You lost energon and beyond that I didn't know how much damage you took besides your leg. Should have been an easy repair until I got your spark chamber, what was left of it open. You are quite the fighter. I was able to save you. I didn't work on the others. I found out later than Wild Rider off lined last. Just minutes before I finished with you. When you are up to it you can read the reports if you like. I am sorry." His apology wasn't just the typical sentiment given warrior to warrior. Knockout, like his mentor, didn't consider himself a warrior. He was a healer and it was spark felt.

Breakdown didn't make optic contact with Knockout then. Knockout could see he believed him and took the sentiment as it was given.  
"You saved my life then? I guess I owe you another one"

"I have ideas on how you can make it up to me. Let me help you though this" He paused.

"And the other?" Breakdown ex-vented in almost a sob of emotion.

"Buff my back!"

"Fair enough" Breakdown told him.

That was the day Knockout officially joined the Decepticons as he let his superiors know he had no plans on going anywhere and would serve wherever he need to in the Decepticon ranks.


	3. Beginning Again

Breakdown

The days immediately following the battle were mostly a blur to Breakdown. He head the medical reports most of which was too scientific for him but he got that the rest off lined rather quickly and he was very close he kept his battle protocols running mainly to keep his emotions in check, but the inability to feel I the other areas was becoming problematic. 

“Breakdown, how are you doing this morning?” came the voice of the all too cheery doctor responsible for him still being in this plane of existence. It made his audios and processor hurt. Breakdown refused to look up. “That good huh?” Knockout said. 

“I would like my pain receptors to be turned back on. For some reason I am unable to do so myself or I would have long ago.”

“Are you sure? There is no one here nothing to prove and no reason to torture yourself for some ‘I-am-better-than-you-and- have-something- to-prove’ non reason. You almost off lined and while you are recovering nicely you will still hurt.”

“Yes!” Breakdown all but growled. He was tired of being treated like a special sparkling or something and he was tired of being unable to open the bond despite the fact he knew he would feel and hear nothing on the other end and he didn’t hesitate to vocalize that fact. “I am tired of not feeling anything. I want my receptors back online and pain killers stopped.” His voice softened. “Please, grant me that one thing. I should feel! I want to feel them or rather their loss.” He saw Knockout’s hesitation. “I know my limitations doctor, and no, I don’t have anything to prove as you put it. It is gone.”  
Knockout ex vented. He couldn’t deny the warrior that dignity so he reluctantly agreed. He scanned the knee joint and walked back to his chassis. “If I see unnecessary strain on your spark on any level I will turn them right back off and up the dose of pain killers. I have far too much invested in you to let you offline now.” he stood over his chassis again. “Open up!”  
Breakdown laughed without humor as he transformed back his chest plates revealing his healing spark chamber. He could feel every scar and the electromagnetic pulse of the deep scan made them throb. The pulses along with Knockout’s none to gentle fingers probing the still tender wires and veins just under his armor quickly got his attention. The pain brought him back to reality. He reached out and felt only emptiness at the ends of each bond. It brought a sense of closure and he thought he would let down his battle protocols too in an orn or so. He was so lost himself in the empty bond and he didn’t hear Knockout speaking to him. 

“Cybertron to Breakdown” Knockout all but screamed. “Have they sent your processor on a scouting mission? I have been trying to talk to you the last couple of klicks. You are good. Look at me and don’t space out. Optics here.” He said as he held up a finger. “He muttered and wrote something on his data pad. “Fine,” he said and set down beside Breakdown. Breakdown stiffened as he could guess what was coming. 

‘Psych evaluation’ He thought to himself. He wasn’t sure how he was going to convince the probing doctor that he was fine. He wasn’t sure he could convince himself he was fine but he had to go on. There was still a war to fight and win. When he actually made optic contact with the doctor for longer than a neuro exam he noticed something. It seemed that Knockout was uncomfortable. ‘Out of his element’ he thought. ‘I will be real. It will throw him off even more’ Breakdown almost laughed. He was a walking parody. He wanted company yet wanted to be alone. He was grateful to be alive yet wanted to be with his brothers in the Well. As much as he wanted to hate the doctor he couldn’t bring himself to do so. He ex-vented slowly. “So give it to me doc. Am I one slagged fragger with a completely scrambled processor…and spark?”

“No, Breakdown, you don’t have a scrambled processor, or spark, though you still are a fragger. I think it is too early still but I appreciate you wanting to feel. You haven’t let the scars heal. They can though. “

“You don’t get it do you? You haven’t shared a spark with one let alone four others have you? They don’t just heal like scar tissue in a knee joint.”

“I know that Breakdown. I have been in relationships and I have seen and felt people die. They leave scars. Ive harvested parts of those I was close to. You think that didn’t leave a scar. I let it heal because I don’t want to dwell in it.”

“And you don’t like scars.” Breakdown reminded him.

“That too!” He agreed laughing. “Feel them then. Feel each and every one of them and let it make you an even better warrior. Let their memory sharpen your skills, or let me. Believe me you are going to need it.”  
Breakdown almost laughed at that. “Really, why?”

He showed them the insigna he now bore. “I am a Decepticon now and we, as the two of us few grounders, in the army have an assignment as soon as you recover. We are going off world to harvest the energon that has been located. We will stop this and get the ones that tore you apart. I’ll help you honor the fallen as you move on. If you want. We are stuck working together though…partner.”  
Breakdown ex vented. “I guess I need to buff the scars.” He laughed without humor. “You save my back I’ll buff yours.” It was the closest thing Knockout would get to an apology.   
“If you want. I won’t complain, however now you need to recharge. I’ll give you something to allow uninterrupted recharge.” Breakdown tried to cut him off. He didn’t want medications. “Ahhh! A complete recharge to defrag your processor. You don’t need so much as a dull ache.”  
He got his leaders attention and it wasn’t in vain, and he wasn’t crazy. The day wasn’t horrible after all. 

Knockout

“Knockout” Shrapnel called breaking the younger medic’s concentration “a word with you.” It was more of a command than a request and he didn’t dare ignore it. “Settle my curiosity, you usually come and go to primus only knows where but you have stayed here over the last couple of decacycles. I am sure it is more than just your code of ethics telling you to stay with the one patient. You haven’t done that before, unless there is something else.” It was obvious that Knockout was definitely uncomfortable with that level of questioning so he switched gears to the real question. “Tell me, are you planning on officially joining us?”   
Knockout knew, even before Praxus fell to the Decepticons and even before he met Breakdown, he wouldn’t be able to remain neutral throughout the whole war. He had considered joining the Decepticons because of the amount of resources they seemed to have among other reasons. However, the main reason was because they took what they needed and didn’t question things. 

“Yes,” He finally answered. “I am now officially a Decepticon.” 

“Good,” his mentor said smiling. “Having been in charge of the triage unit close to Praxus battle grounds we saw more action than most have in a long time. Command asked me to recommend a medic for a scouting mission after the mutual decision I am too old to leave Cybertron. They wanted someone good enough to work alone if need be.” Knockout was hesitant and reading his expression the old surgeon continued. “Rumor has it that if it goes well there is potential for serious promotion in the ranks. You could be a young officer.” He was practically grinning now. “I imagine I will join the Allspark soon and as such I recommended you. In the mean time to check on your favorite patient. You need him well considering I believe he would be the perfect one to take with you as,” he paused a moment “Your partner. He is quite a warrior and to be able to survive that he is one of the strongest I have seen, and honestly Knockout, how many fights have you actually been in?”

Knockout stopped in his tracks. “As if I would get to choose” He said trying to hide his surprise. He agreed that Breakdown would make an excellent bodyguard of sorts. That is what he told himself anyway. He went to make rounds.  
“  
Breakdown, how are you doing this morning?” He asked unable to keep the near giddiness out of his voice. He shook his helm knowing he must sound like a sparkling. Pit nothing was going to break his good mood that morning, not even Breakdown’s complaining. “That good huh?” he asked pulling back his emotion and doing a quick external scan.   
Breakdown then said something that completely caught Knockout off guard. “Turn my pain receptors back on. They seem to have been overridden and I can’t do it myself or else they would have been back on orns ago. :

He wouldn’t look at Knockout so he wasn’t able to read him very well but he did remember the first meeting when he refused to turn them off after that debris removal because he was trying to impress his commander. “Are you sure? There is no longer anyone else here. Why torture yourself for some ridiculous I-am-better-than-everyone-and-I-need-to-prove-it-to-everyone ego thing, because if that is it then no! You are almost healed and I have put way too much time into your recovery to see you offline now due to stresses of you trying to pretend you don’t hurt. I assure you that you will. The damage was massive!”

“Yes!” Breakdown all but growled. I am tired of being numb. I want to feel anything.” He lowered his voice now to barely a whisper and if it weren’t for Knockout’s sensitive audios he doubted he would have heard it at all. “Grant me this doc. I want to feel them again, or rather the emptiness left by them.” Knockout widened his optics. This was going to be more difficult than he imagined. He was beginning to dread the psych evaluation. “I know my limits, doctor.” He continued “I am not trying to prove anything to anyone. I want the closure.”

“Stubborn mech!” Knockout whispered. He would allow it. He remembered the empty feeling from when his creators off lined at the same time. He shook his helm and scanned his knee joint. The repair was healing and there would be very little if any scar tissue to rub the joint as it healed. That was one positive. He walked back and stood at Breakdown’s right side. He thumped his chest plates “Fine, I am not sparkless but as soon as I see any added stresses to your spark on any level, Primus help me, I am shutting them right back off and upping the dose of pain killers on top of it. Am I clear?” “Besides’ he thought. ‘I need you to be my partner in the new assignment.’ Breakdown ex vented something even Knockout couldn’t understand. “Open up. I need to scan that spark chamber of yours.” He parted the wires just under his armor and checked the seals on the energon veins. “Any pain?” he asked and Breakdown said nothing so he continued. “I have seen few with a pain tolerance this high. This is impressive.’ He told him. “When you are cleared for duty we will be going off world” He started to tell him about mission as he switch over and ran deep internal scans. 

“Cybertron to Breakdown!” Knockout screamed as he noticed Breakdown didn’t hear a word he said. Breakdown made optic contact and quickly looked away. “All is well.” Knockout wanted Breakdown to look at him. He was about to repeat himself and It was important. That and he had to know how his processor was holding up. “Look here.” He said holding up a finger. He scanned his optics for a nanoklick longer than necessary. “Fine” he hummed. ‘The things you have to do to make optic contact with some mechs he thought. 

“So doc, I am one fragged up slagger with scrap for a processor and spark?” Breakdown asked and Knockout notices something off in his optics. He was definitely hiding something.  
“No,’ he told himself, ‘nothing that dramatic.’”I should have waited before turning the receptors back on. You need to heal and that will happen quicker if you weren’t trying to block pain.”

“You don’t get it do you? Breakdown asked getting frustrated. “You haven’t shared sparks with one bot never mind four. They don’t heal like knees.”  
Knockout felt fury growing and his optics shown deep crimson. “I may not have been part of a combiner but I am not immune to pain. Primus I am a medic and I have lost bots that were close to me. I have even had to be the one to harvest their parts. No don’t you ever be so presumptuous to think you are alone in the universe in pain.”   
Breakdown looked at him for a klick. “I don’t mind scars.”

“I know. I do that is why I heal quicker. I refuse to stay bogged down in the pit. Didn’t the cons tell you to suck up the feelings, all but anger, and let them carry you? Feel their absence and then push forward. You have to, we the Decepticons, have been given a new assignment.”

“We?” Breakdown asked. “You joined?”

“Affirmative and we have an assignment off world. Megatron himself has called us to follow the Autobots to a newly discovered energon mine. I’ll will be back to brief you as soon as you remove the scars!”

“You need uninterrupted rest. I am giving you a low dose of painkillers to aid in recharge. I will see you this evening. I expect to be leaving in the next decacycle or two.”  
Breakdown tried to protest but Knockout ignored him.  
“Trust me mech!” He adjusted it and turned to walk out. It would be an interesting decacycle. He needed to burn off extra fuel. He raced back to acquire new oils and returned to relax. He would need it if things went as he imagined.


	4. Going Places

Breakdown

The decacycle seemed to breakdown to pass quickly. He wasn’t sure if that was a good thing, all things considering. Sure, he was more than ready to get out of the med bay but he was unsure of what was going to happen when he did. He was not completely sure he wanted to deal with the changes. He was only just beginning to adjust to the inner quiet. It was strange not to have bonds, shared emotions, or shared thoughts. For the first time the fact that he was alone in a way he had never been before was troubling. It was also a little troubling that he was about to leave the planet in this state of mind. Sure he would follow orders, but he wished he had some idea of the plan. 

Knockout advised him to consider the fact that in his case he needed to get off world. There would be few he knew, just the ones that went along on the assignment. There would be no one second guessing his personal choices or anyone to feel personally responsible for. He would still fight Autobots. “Trust me, mech” had been a phrase that Knockout used on a daily basis, and Breakdown was trying. He had no reason not to do so. He helped the wrecker save face several times over the last lunar cycles and of course he saved his life. He was over being furious with Knockout.  
His thoughts about the red mech were soon interrupted but said mech’s voice “Breakdown,” Knockout said walking in and scanning him one last time, “Looks like you are ready to get out of here. Good thing because we fly in less than half a joor. Get your things and get ready.”

“Ummhum” he replied. It wouldn’t take him that long to gather up his supplies, and because of that he felt his temper rise again. ‘So much for not being mad at Knockout’ he thought to himself. He subspaced his hammer and a few rations of energon and followed Knockout. He found him packing and could only shake his helm. This was why he gave him 3 megacycles to pack. Knockout seemed to need that long. “Knockout, I understand we are going off world but is all that really necessary? How much room do you have? You will get us jettisoned off the transport at this rate. Pack smart” He advised trying not to laugh at the vanity that was clearly coming through. “This is war, not a beauty contest for Primus’ sake.”  
Knockout looked at him as if he grew an additional three helms. “I know that, medical supplies, Breakdown.” He answered. 

“Okay so there are mechs like you who hate scratches but six buffers. You can’t tell me that is medically necessary. I’d hate for you to have to throw some of them out of an airlock.” He laughed the smallest would take the most weight. Most solders aren’t going to care about something so trivial.   
After debating several klicks, Breakdown convinced Knockout to part with some of his precious waxes convincing him that surely there would be some to be found on whatever planet they were on. After all it made no sense to assume they were the only mechanical based life in the universe and surely he had enough credits to buy more same with the buffers and sanders.   
The order came in to depart and they drove off to the transport. Breakdown was edgy again. They arrived at the space dock and boarded a small warship. They were given orders for when they arrived and prepared for a long ride. 

“Knockout,” Breakdown whispered barely getting the smaller mech’s attention and trying to keep the nervousness out of his voice, “deal still on?” Knockout understood and nodded. “Thanks” he whispered and if it was not for Knockout’s sensitive audios he would never have heard. 

“Don’t thank me yet. You heard they aren’t sure the Autobots didn’t find out about this planet and are already there. We are still at war.” He rubbed at a small scratch on his arm. At least on Cybertron we were familiar with the surroundings.” He laughed without humor. “I am glad you decided not to hate me after all this. Though you still might-“  
“What is done is done” he told him understanding what he meant. “Now I have the opportunity for revenge and you furthered your knowledge. You are a scientist after all.”Knockout couldn’t argue with that.   
Breakdown drifted off into recharge and woke abruptly as the warship shook violently.

“An attack?” he asked.

“Unsure” was the answer. “We have detected unusual radiation that seemed to be from another Cybertronian source and that is the assumption we are going to hide atmosphere of a small planet to throw them off.   
What happened next threw all of them off as the planet had higher gravity than expected and they were being pulled toward the planet’s surface. “We are going to crash’ Breakdown thought. He braced himself and offlined his optics. 

Knockout

The following decacylces seemed to knockout to be unending. He was more than a little anxious to get off Cybertron and that was something he never thought he would happen. Why would he leave home? He had no reason to until the blasted war started but it had and the scientist in him needed to see other things. That and the fact that he had a permanent stable assignment made it easier. He also told himself new places possibly meant exotic waxes and polishes which was always a good thing. The main reason was of course Breakdown who was a constant now. Seemingly the only constant in the universe, Breakdown was Knockout’s masterpiece so to speak. Saving him, however dumb it may have been at the time, got him to this position. No one would see him as just an apprentice, or only good at body work.   
Getting off Cybertron would allow him to escape the ghosts, his and his new partner’s. Primus knew Breakdown had plenty. Knockout hoped Breakdown wouldn’t hold Knockout’s professional calls against him later. That was the spark of the final brief discussion he had with Scalpel that day. 

“You have done more than his physical repairs, Knockout. You have somehow managed to repair the big lug’s spark and processor. I have to admit that is most impressive. I honestly didn’t think you had the patience required to do so and that you would eventually aid him in off lining himself, honorably and mercifully. The Decepticons are indeed most fortunate to have such a warrior and doctor on our side.”  
Knockout glared at his mentor. “I just hope the brute continues to improve and focus on living. It would be unfortunate if he changed his mind and chose to hold a grudge.” Knockout shook visibly. “I mean at the time they were not all lost, and I made sure he knew that. Besides, I think I have reminded him of a reason not to turn on me or take himself to the Well.”

“I doubt he will, Knockout. I have noticed something about him. Something in his optics. He is ready to continue. At least to get revenge. The chance to get off world couldn’t come at a better time. He may get his revenge but there is definitely something in it for you.   
Knockout nodded. “Leaving will be good for us. He needs to start over though. There is always the chance the ghosts could return if he stuck around too long. Pit, my ghosts might even…” Knockouts thoughts drifted. He didn’t want word of his former work with the Autobots to ever reach Breakdown’s audios and he was sure that bit of information would be leaked if he stayed around too much longer. He was now more than ready for the transport to leave. 

“You better get your belongings together, Knockout. If I know you half as well as I think I do, you need all the time you can get. Your transport leaves in a joor.”

“Thanks” Knockout huffed and left to gather his things, check on Breakdown and hurry him along. It was going to be an interesting evening indeed.   
Knockout entered Breakdown’s room and he was surprised to see Breakdown already up and getting things. He scanned him quickly. “I was going to tell you we leave in a joor and to get your things together. I see there is really no need.”

“Uh-hum” he said not looking at Knockout.

“Well I still have plenty. See you in a joor.” He left quickly getting the impression that Breakdown was suddenly mad with him. It was something about the optics. Knockout tried to ignore it and was torn between which buffers to take. “When in doubt take the all” he told himself. He wasn’t going to let anything throw off his good mood. He was shocked to hear venting behind him. “Breakdown, can I help you with something?”

“All of them? Doc, this is a war not some beauty contest. You are going to get us thrown off the transport with all that weight!”  
Knockout was suddenly defensive. “Medical supplies, Breakdown. I am a doctor and it is necessary.”

“Six are necessary? He asked. “I assure you the common warrior is not going to care if he has scratches and scars. You need one buffer to make sure the seams are even and don’t cause other problems, or at least one big one and one smaller one.” It was obvious the larger mech was trying desperately not to laugh at his new friend. He picked up a heavier can of wax and shook his helm. “Knockout, really How much of this do you need?” He smelled one of the waxes. “Are you going to treat mechs or attempt to woo them?” Breakdown couldn’t contain himself any longer and laughed.   
Knockout could feel the coolant leave his faceplates and his optics almost glowed. “Breakdown, enough. I assure you I will not get us kicked off the transport and if they attempt to mess with any of my personal belonging when I have no way of knowing when I might aquire more-“  
Breakdown cut him off. “Knockout, we are surely not the only mechanical based life in the universe and surely there will be ways to aquire more as you put it. Think of it potentially exotic otherworldly stuff.”  
Knockout hated to admit it but he was right. He threw it out and packed smart by most standards.   
The order came to depart and the drove off to the transport. Knockout was more nervous than he thought he would be. They got their orders and set in for a long flight. 

“Knockout” Breakdown whispered, “is the deal still on?”  
Knockout almost didn’t hear him. He understood. He also picked up that the big mech was as nervous as he was. “good” he thought. “it isn’t just me.” 

“Thanks” Breakdown whispered.

“Don’t thank me yet. I am not so sure we are the only ones who have found the potential energon deposit. The Autobots may have too. We are, as you pointed out, still very much at war.” He picked at a small scratch on his arm he didn’t notice before they left. “I am glad for both of our sparks we are leaving. WE need this. I am glad you decided not to hate me although before this is over you still might change your mind.”  
Breakdown shook his helm. “What is done is done. I can get revenge and you can further you knowledge as a scientist. If you don’t mind I am going to power down briefly.”  
Knockout acknowledged and went to get the small buffer he packed away. His arm was driving him crazy when the warship suddenly shook and careened forward. “Scrap” he swore and he lost balance. 

“An attack?” Breakdown asked. 

“Unsure, but it appears so. There is a trace of Cybertronian radiation and we are going to hide in the planet’s atmosphere for a moment to lose it.” Knockout was unable to finish his thought as the gravity was strong than expected and they were pulled towared the planet’s surface. He braced himself and offlined his optics.


	5. Close Encounters of the Squishy Kind

The space craft bounced and skidded, metal on metal with sparks flying, along the planetoid’s surface before coming to an abrupt stop. Breakdown was thrown against the back wall and was hesitant to move, his recently injured knee throbbing. “Dislocated” he realized, but knew he couldn’t just sit there. It hurt but he experienced far worse so he shook it off. He jumped up and limped though the pain looking for his partner. From what he could tell the mechs aboard were not any more injured than he had been but not seeing Knockout right away troubled him. His worries were short lived however when he saw that Knockout, being much lighter, had been thrown completely across the cargo hold and was swearing quietly while rubbing his now obviously scratched up arm.

“I never heard what happened. Did you? Where exactly are we?” Breakdown asked trying to get his bearings again and having some difficulty hiding the discomfort in his knee. 

“Clearly we crashed. As of our location outside of this damaged transport I have no idea where.” Knockout seemed to be even more snarky than usual. Breakdown just brushed it off. He wasn’t exactly thrilled about the predicament either. “Sorry Breakdown,” Knockout murmured. 

Breakdown shook his head and looked away. “Don’t, apologies are not necessary.” He said before his knee finally gave way. “Scrap” he swore loudly but still tried to play it off. He wouldn’t be able to hide it from Knockout but he sure as the pit was not going to let anyone else on that blasted ship suspect any form of weakness.

“Breakdown!” Knockout said “Why didn’t you say something? This one is the one healing.” He scanned it quickly. “It is just dislocated. It could have been much worse. This is going to be uncomfortable” He grabbed his leg and quickly snapped it back into place. Breakdown didn’t even flinch despite the pain that was like a bolt of lightning through his leg. “Still trying to prove something? I thought you said you were past that;” Knockout said low enough for only Breakdown to hear. 

‘Knockout will never understand’ he thought. Out loud he said, “No and I am. Don’t you think you better at least check on the others? I’m sure word has gotten out we have a medic on board.” He shook his helm unable to figure out why he let Knockout get to him. Why he cared so much he didn’t know. Why he couldn’t stay mad at the snarky mech he didn’t know and it bothered him. One thing was sure though if they were going to be partners he would have to get used to it. So far ignoring it seemed to work. He got up to work the soreness out of his legs. After a few klicks Knockout was back.

“They seem to be uninjured. Mostly dents and scrapes and a few dislocated joints, which I have taken care of. One thing is certain. I am glad I am a grounder after being thrown across the ship I have no desire to fly. My pedes will stay firmly on the surface where they belong.”He laughed. “I was able to get some information from the commander and engineers, we are on a cyber based planetoid, other than that I have no idea about our location. It seems to be uninhabited though and we definitely lost the Autobots. As soon as the engineers make repairs we will be able to take off again. It may be awhile so I suggest we get off of here and walk a bit. It will be good for your knee. We’ll check back in two breems though I imagine it will be much longer than that.”

Breakdown stepped out first. The atmosphere was not unlike Cybertron’s but with a more alkaline hint to it and it was dark. ‘Naturally’ he told himself. ‘There was no star close enough to even be considered this rock’s sun’. He detected no Cybertronian spark signatures other than his partner’s behind him. “We seem to be the only life here doc. Come on.” They walked slowly up the uneven terrain. The only sounds were the hums of their various systems and occasional vibrations though the ground. ‘From the ship’s engines, he assumed. The surface seemed to be the tops of underground tunnels. “Apparently this planetoid is hollow. Something to keep in mind and watch you steps.”

“Noted” Knockout finally said. He had been scanning and came to the same conclusions. He caught up to Breakdown and walked beside him.  
Breakdown only laughed. “You’re sure the boogie bot isn’t going to get you now, so you decide to walk beside me. I am touched.” Breakdown liked the idea of having some control over the situation especially after the last few orbital cycles. It was easy to mess with Knockout as he had discovered. He wasn’t used to being around bots that actually didn’t want to fight. It seemed unnatural and he still wondered why he bothered to actually join. He was thankful for it but it still amused him. He needed something to smile at during the war. Next to the bond he once had with the combiners and scrapping the Autobots that forever severed that bond… well this was the next best thing. 

“Breakdown please, I am hardly a sparkling. I can repair you. If I became injured-“  
“Yes, I know our deal. I will be your body guard, Knockout; your beautiful finish will not suffer scratches.” Breakdown fought to keep the laughter out of his voice. Like it or not he did owe that mech his life.   
They continued on that way for a few more klicks becoming comfortable with teasing each other and comfortable with the surroundings that they didn’t notice it at the changes at first. They also didn’t notice how far they had walked from the crash site. 

Knockout stopped suddenly, his sensitive audios picked it up first, and grabbed the Energon prod out from subspace. “What in the name of the unmaker is that?” He looked down and noticed the large opening in the ground. They would have fallen in had Knockout not heard the scratches and hisses coming from it. He instinctively stuck the prod in the crack sending pulses of energon sparking around them. There was a screech and large black slugs with glowing blue optics came in all directions from the hole. 

“Space slugs!” Breakdown answered unmoved. “I thought those were native to Cybertron! They are energon sucking scavengers the Autobots employed against us once.” He added causing Knockout who was still stunned to quickly run. “Hammer time!”He said as he laughed and took out the pent up frustrations on the creatures. He began to pound the ones coming at him, their somewhat squishy insides and freshly consumed energon flying everywhere as their metal frames shattered. Unfortunately there were more than Breakdown was prepared for or could handle himself. Knockout was zapping them with his prod but it seemed to be drawing more out. 

 

“Knockout it is the energon. They smell the energy from your prod and our own energon. We have to get out of here! It looks like more than I can fight off.” Especially if you’re going to run scared’ he thought. He tried to run but was backed up against an embankment of some kind.   
Knockout transformed his hand to his circular saw and was slicing them in half one by one as they crawled up his legs.

“They’re going to eat me!” Knockout screamed over the buzz of his saw. All of the explosions and sneaky Autobot attacks this is how I go. Drained of energon by a …a slug! Breakdown it has been a privilege serving with you” He continued to zap and cut the creatures as Breakdown approached. Swinging his hammer and firing at them.

“You aren’t going anywhere doc! Stop being so dramatic.” Breakdown crushed the remaining slugs and helped Knockout back to his pedes. “Let’s get back to the transport before they lift off without us. I don’t really want to be stuck on this dark rock any longer than necessary. They are annoying but they will hardly eat you. You are much too large. Their tanks would explode.” He assured Knockout as they walked back to the ship. “Don’t worry. I’ll buff your back. I am glad to know you care so much.” 

They boarded just in time to hear that they were repaired and would take off in half a breem. Breakdown laughed. He would remember this little misadventure forever for many different reasons. ‘Love ya too mech’ he laughed to himself as he watched Knockout finally buff the scratch out of his arm.

 

Knockout

Knockout on lined his optics unsure of which was worse, the crash of the actual ship on the planetoid’s surface, or the crash of his own frame against the back wall of the hold of said ship. Clearly the later was the direct result of the former but he hardly imagined the ships could have been as scratched up. “Pit,” he swore. Here he was worried about one little scratch. Now what would have been a 2 klick job on his arm would require at least a megacycle of buffing his whole body. This was precisely why Knockout always hated flying. All it takes is one system malfunction and your finish is ruined, never mind the ground based forms are far more pleasing to the optics. His lamenting was cut short and he was dragged back into reality by his partner walking less than gracefully across the room.  
He noticed Breakdown headed towards him limping but trying to look like he wasn’t. Knockout laughed to himself again. “He always tries to down play pain I guess he not letting the enemy know you are injured is good but he has to know first I am on his side and second he can’t hide his pain from me. It would be foolish to try anyway.” Knockout thought. Breakdown looked relieved. How exactly he could be was lost on the medic. 

“So where exactly are we? What happened?” Breakdown asked him finally showing some sign of discomfort.

“Clearly we are on a transport that crashed in the process of running from Autobots” Knockout answered. The look in Breakdown’s optics made Knockout realize his answer came out far more snarky than he intended. “Sorry Breakdown. I know what you mean. I haven’t heard anything yet.” He murmured.

Breakdown shook his helm. “Never mind. Apologies are not necessary. Scrap!” he said as he grabbed his knee and propped his weight on the wall beside Knockout. 

“Breakdown! Why didn’t you say something earlier? I know you like to play down pain but this one is still healing. Damaging it again and saying nothing could severely affect you in the future.” He scanned it quickly. “Dislocated. Hold still this will hurt, sorry.” He grabbed it and popped his lower leg back into joint. He noticed his partner still didn’t flinch. “That would have made most mechs at least squirm. Are you still trying to prove something to someone? You don’t have to prove anything to me. Lying about it is foolish.” He said low enough for only Breakdown’s audios. 

No, you’re right. I have nothing to prove. Shouldn’t you at least check on the others? Surely word has gotten around about your skills doc. If not before, now is will be obvious.”  
Knockout realized others had their optics on him the entire time.

“You may be right Breakdown. I will be back in a few klicks.” He walked around the ship most were just scratched up. He suggested various buffers that would be the most efficient and got ideas on various waxes. He took the time to actually buff a femme barely in her third frame and as payment got a new can of exotic wax. He gratefully took considering Breakdown made him throw out several canisters of nice waxes before he left. He was glad he wasn’t the only one who considered it of value. Never mind the other was a femme. No one else had to know especially not Breakdown. There were four other limbs that had received damage outside of scratches and dents and after about three breems he made those repairs. He collected credits on those. “Well there is one positive thing that came out of the crash that was unexpected.” He told himself. He made his way out of the cargo hold and found the engineer with slight damage. He made the repairs and discovered that they were only slightly off course and the repairs should be made in a couple of megacycles. “Certainly faster now that your arm has been repaired” Knockout told him. “Just get us off this rock!”  
He returned to the main hanger deck to find Breakdown.

“They were mostly undamaged. Mostly dents and scrapes that we all have and a couple of damaged joints not unlike yours. Seems the flyers escaped any damage. They must have transformed and flew with the momentum. Despite that, I am glad I am a grounder. Being thrown across the ship cemented that fact.” Breakdown laughed and agreed. “I was able to get some information from the others. We are on a cyber based planetoid only slightly off our original course. I am still not sure where though. It seems to be uninhabited and the Autobots are nowhere to be seen. As soon as repairs are made will take off again. It may be awhile so I suggest we get out and walk a bit. It will be good for you knee and I need to transform and burn some speed. I am getting edgy. We will check back in a couple of breems though I imagine it will take much longer than that. 

Knockout waited behind Breakdown and followed a few steps behind him. His sensors immediately told him the atmosphere was similar to Cybertron but with traces of hydroxide compounds giving it a more alkaline hint. It wouldn’t be too corrosive. He detected no spark signatures other than his, Breakdown’s and those on the ship. There was no life outside of the wreckage. Breakdown confirmed the same readings.

“Noted” he told Breakdown and transformed. He drove around a moment before transforming again and walking beside the larger mech.

“So you are now sure the boogie bot won’t capture you so you walk beside me? How touching, Doc.”

So Breakdown wanted to play that game huh? Knockout was no stranger to it. “Breakdown, Seriously, I am no sparkling. If you were damaged further by either boogie bot, or a real attack, or simply clumsiness, I could repair you. If I were damaged however-”

“Yes, I recall the deal. I will be your body guard and your beautiful finish will not suffer any further scratches.”  
Breakdown was laughing at him now but he didn’t care and only laughed back. “Catch me if you can, Breakdown. He laughed and transformed. Breakdown didn’t even try to race. He transformed and cut him off in a clearing. “I believe the phrase is Tag you’re it” They transformed again. 

They continued on this way for several more klicks enjoying the cool air from the constant night around them that they were unaware of how long they had been walking and how far they were from the crash site and were it not for Knockout’s keen hearing and he becoming instantly aware of the scratches and hisses, he would have very likely followed Breakdown right into a hole.

“Breakdown, stop!” He grabbed the larger mech’s arm. There is something in that hole!” He pulled his energon prod from subspace and instinctively stuck it in the hole. He would no doubt be unable to erase the sight that followed from his processors. Large black tubal creatures with glowing blue optics slithered out of the hole as if drawn to the pulse from the prod. “What in the name of the unmaker are those?” Knockout asked Breakdown who no longer looked surprised and was smashing them to pieces with his hammer. “I thought you said there was no such thing as boogie bots! They are straight from the pit.” Breakdown continued smashing them up and their squishy innards, fresh energon and shards from their frames flew everywhere and covered his finish. “Ewwww!”

“They aren’t, Knockout. They are just space slugs. They are scavengers that usually live under Cybertron and clean up decaying energon. They clearly prefer fresh energon though. The Autobots employed them against us once, disgusting energon suckers.”

“Energon suckers!” Knockout said trying to keep the fear out of his voice. You mean I have withstood explosions around triage units only to get my energon drained out of my veins from a slug! If this wasn’t dangerous it would be interesting.” He finally said as he pulled out his circular saw and began slicing them in half as they attempted to get close enough to crawl up his legs. He tried unsuccessfully to zap the ones that kept seemed to come out of the ground indefinitely.

“Knockout stop using the energon prod they are drawn to it as well as the smell of ours.” Breakdown told him as he came to his aid and smashed up the others. “Hammer Time” he said laughing. “They won’t eat you, we are much too large. They just like your smell apparently. Maybe next time you should go easy on the wax. Though I can’t say I blame them.”He said laughing. “Battle isn’t a good time to draw attention to yourself though.”

“I didn’t want to be in the middle of a battle, especially with Unicron’s pets. They laughed. Let’s head back. I only hope they didn’t take off without us.”  
Breakdown left ahead of Knockout. He subspaced his prod and the body of one that was mostly still whole. Knowing he was out of danger the scientific curiosity got the better of him. “These might actually be useful later, if not as a weapon then in locating energon.” He thought.  
He stepped back on the ship behind Breakdown just in time to hear the announcement that they would be lifting off in half a breem. Good, he thought. To Breakdown he whispered. “Thanks.”

“That is my job, Doc. Besides I think I owe you my life anyway. Fighting slugs is much easier than spark surgery after all.”  
Knockout wasn’t sure about that but he was sure of the fact that he would rather do spark chamber reconstruction than see one of those alive outside of his lab again. He would no doubt ever forget this day. For more reasons than one. He looked at Breakdown who had fallen into recharge. He pulled out his buffer and began to work the scratches out before falling into recharge himself.


	6. Assignment Earth

The ship lifted off with a jolt and Breakdown was shaken out of recharge. The inability to fall into a deep recharge was the result of sharing tight bonds and then abruptly having the severed as well as the general paranoia that came with being a soldier in what seemed to be a never ending war. He did occasionally get deep uninterrupted recharge but not without the help of aids or induced stasis. Breakdown couldn’t stand either; again it was something he contributed to war time paranoia and lack of control over situations. Given the choice between light recharge and unnatural means he’d choose light brief recharge cycles any orn.  
He noticed that Knockout hadn’t been disturbed by it at all. He didn’t wish to bother him considering what happened earlier he assumed Knockout needed the rest. He got up as quietly as a mech his size could and walked over to the bay window. He saw the streaks of light that were stars fade to black as the ship increased in speed to that of light. The stars made him think of the home he left. He tried to imagine what life would have been like during the golden age of peace. Yeah he knew he would not have been part of tower society and fate would have likely put him in the working class or maybe he would have been lucky and been an enforcer, but to not be worried about the Autobots taking a pot shot or releasing slugs on him as a means of biological warfare would be nice. He laughed at that, or rather at the way Knockout reacted to them simply doing their natural job. He wondered though if he would have had any of the bonds he did. He doubted he would have come near death but at the same time that would have meant not needing Knockout. He didn’t like near death experiences but the medic was growing on him and that alone was worth the new spark chamber. He couldn’t think like that. It would only distract him from his purpose and get him hurt again. He shook his helm. Even in dark times there were lights. He found himself lost in a daydream. 

He was so lost in thought he almost missed it when the announcement that they had arrived at their destination and were cloaking before pulling into orbit. The warship would be taking on those who came for that purpose. Breakdown was unsure what other purposes anyone bot on board would have for such long distance travel but it was none of his business. He was about to move on. The war and his life were going in a new direction. He would board the warship get his assignment from the Deceptions leader himself and move on alongside Knockout. He turned to make sure Knockout knew but didn’t have to go far as the red mech was right behind him. It startled him. 

“Knockout!” He turned quickly and stared down at the medic as his spark slowed to normal. “How long have you been standing there?”

“Oh, not very long,” he said with a smirk, “only a little over a breem or maybe closer to two. What have you been thinking about so deeply? Ways to personally offline all the Autobots and single handedly win the war?” He paused. It seemed to Breakdown that his optics were unusually bright. “Unless you were thinking about- I don’t know- something less violent?” He dropped his voice to a whisper. “Your vitals were a bit off, increased spark rate, fans running a little faster than normal, even before I surprised you.”

There was definitely something of mischief in his optics but he wasn’t sure what. He hoped his thoughts didn’t give him away that much. How much exactly did Knockout know? Regardless he told himself this is neither the time nor the place for that. You are a Decepticon. Act like it.

“Yes and no, to both questions.” He answered with an almost defiance. “Let’s get up front. I don’t think I even want to know where else this ship may be headed.” By that point he noticed the other passengers. Knockout’s grin widened and he just shook his head and followed Breakdown.  
They stepped out of the hanger of the transport into the hanger of the Nemesis. It’s darkened halls and purple lighting was in stark contrast to the lighting on the transport. They were greeted by a vehicon who escorted them to their quarters next to the med bay. Breakdown barely had time to get his bearings when a large purple mech stepped up behind him. He turned trying to control his nerves. That was the second time today he allowed himself to be surprised by another mech. He was really losing his focus today and that could be deadly. He spoke in sound clips. “There is little time, move in later. Possible significant source of energon located. Secure it before Autobots arrive. Transmitting coordinates.” Breakdown received the coordinates as a map flashed on the mech’s visor. “Go”  
A ground bridge opened and Breakdown led Knockout through. Breakdown walked out on the other side with his weapons raised. He wouldn’t be surprised again. However, the surprise was in that there was no one. “Looks like we got here first.” He began to relax again.

“It would appear that way. You know the saying, finders keepers.” Knockout replied. 

“We haven’t found anything yet though. I hope they didn’t find it already. However if the preliminaries are correct there would be too much for them to haul at once”

“So they may still be wherever the energon actually is.” Knockout finished for him and twirled his energon prod before storing it again.

“I got your back. Let’s go”

They transformed and drove further south from the location. “Do you see that, Knockout? It looks like energon readings about fifteen kilometers away.”

“I see it” He sped up once again riding beside Breakdown. “This place is going to ruin my finish. I have never seen so much grime. I certainly hope this dirt ball is loaded with energon. Otherwise it will be a waste of fuel and the corrosion on my finish will be almost irreparable. So not worth it.” He almost whined.  
Breakdown was trying once again not to laugh at Knockout. He loved the mech but Primus this was getting ridiculous. “Knockout, I promise when we get back if your finish is that bad I will buff it for you. You fix my back I buff yours remember.” 

“I’ll be sure to hold you to it.” The drove for several klicks before Knockout stopped suddenly and for once the larger mech wasn’t caught off guard. Knockout must have gotten a summons too. He thought. He was also used to Knockout’s subtle changes in his mood and EM fields. 

“Breakdown it would appear Commander Starscream needs us after all, or at least me. Megatron needs medical attention apparently. I will leave and see to him.”

“I got the same comm. I will follow you up when I check on the energon. See you in a megacycle or so maybe sooner.” He watched Knockout drive off full speed and when he was out of sight he took off again toward the location of the energon. 

Without Knockout’s constant chatter and the hums of his systems Breakdown was now keenly aware of the planet and how alive it was. He was aware of all the small organic creatures from birds to rodents. Knockout didn’t like it and found reason to complain but Earth had its positives. The wildernesses and old cities, though not near as old as Cybertron’s shared some things in common. He was lost in thought enjoying the uniqueness and similarities when he picked up a Cybertronian presence. He knew of no other Decepticon on the planet so it had to be Autobot. He transformed and walked up to find a pleasant surprise. It was Bulkhead. It was Bulkhead and a local squishy. Primus loved him now and he was sure of it. 

“He’s dumber than he looks” he told the human. 

“Breakdown?” Bulkhead asked.

“Miss me?” He confirmed smirking.

“Like rust in my under carriage” Bulkhead responded. 

Yeah he was full of snark but unfortunately for the Autobot he had been working with Knockout for a solar cycle now and was more than use to snark. He had picked up on it as well.  
“Oh, he has a pet. Does it play catch?” He doubted himself for a moment, but only a moment. The locals should leave superior races alone the thought as he threw a concrete cylinder at the human and waited for the squish and the squish of Bulkhead’s spark as he watched.  
Scrap, of course he would stop it. He threw himself at the Autobot. The crash of their metal frames and watching his arch enemy fall back was great. He was enjoying it too much and missed Bulkhead’s counter. He felt the blow and transformed and drove off. He had what he needed and he would fight later if it was necessary. They had all the energon they needed and a way to extract it quickly. He requested a ground bridge back to the Nemesis. 

He reported his find and was restless. “Relax Breakdown; did one Autobot get you that worked up? Clearly Knockout could see Breakdown’s unease. He was ready to get back at it. It had been too long and the skirmish made him realize that. They reviewed the plan of acquiring the harvester. They would create the diversion and Lazerbeak would fly in and take the relic. He buffed Knockout to the shine again just in time to be called back out to be that diversion. 

This time Knockout rolled out of the ground bridge first. Breakdown watched the glow of his tail lights until they vanished smiling. The smile didn’t last long as he could still hear everything. Did Knockout really flirt with the Prime? He had to be hearing things. He didn’t have long to contemplate it because he knew he heard “Meet my friend here” He rolled out and blasted Optimus and watched as Knockout shocked him. This was too good. He then fired at the scouts and was in amusement as they ran into each other and flew across the parking lot. He saw Bulkhead again and Knockout shocked him He heard the alarms. Just then he heard Lazerbeak above him with the relic. 

“That would be game” Knockout announced and the drove off to the ground bridge together. Breakdown was angry and he made no attempt to hide it. 

“He is the commander?!”Breakdown asked when they returned and was alone in the med bay. “I am sure he is not concerned with Lord Megatron’s recovery as he says he is. He would love to have command.”

“What you don’t like ambition and intelligence, Breakdown?” laughter in his voice from the small easy victory.  
Breakdown ex vented sharply. “Knockout you make everything about you! You tow are absolutely nothing alike. For starters he doesn’t flirt with the enemy.

“You heard that did you? First of all he would if it helped him.” Knockout argued. “And I wasn’t flirting with Optimus. What I said was a statement of fact. That and I was making small talk before I got the pleasure of shocking him. It made it more fun if I do say so myself. Besides Breakdown jealousy is so unbecoming on you. I would know. You look so much better without the sulk. I have only every truly flirted with one mech, mech. He knows it. Now let’s get out of here before Soundwave hears this conversation and stabs us in the back.  
Breakdown didn’t have time to respond before Starscream needed them back to test the relic. They discovered that he really is that conceited and that despite the facts Starscream would find a way to twist them to make him look like the hero, or at least if that didn’t happen he wouldn’t let the real hero get credit. That would be something to keep in mind during the remainder of the war. He also couldn’t believe that because of Starscream’s arrogance they lost the relic. He wasn’t sure what was worse the pain of Knockouts energon prod that he managed to fall on, or being unable to actually fight Bulkhead when he came back that night. He hated running when the bots came back but they were outnumbered. Knockout pointed out later that was yet another way he was not like the commander. He was arrogant sure, but he wouldn’t have let it cost them by trying to show off. He was angry.

“Breakdown, I need a hand with the buffer again.”

“Fine. I am coming vain mech.”

Buffing out Knockout’s scratches was therapeutic. He discovered that almost immediately. He couldn’t stay mad at him or at the situation long. Knockout could flirt with anyone as long as he allowed Breakdown to take the scratches and dents out. He would never understand his friend’s aversion to battle scars. He had to admit Knockout did look good and opposites did have a way of finding each other. They laughed that night despite everything and fell into recharge on the couch.

KNOCKOUT

Knockout came out of recharge more abruptly than he would have cared to. The jolt following lift off knocked the buffer he had been using before he nodded off out of his lap onto his pede. “Scrap” he thought and on lined one optic to check the damage. His pede and buffer seemed undamaged so he attempted to recharge again. However there was far too much turbulence and he couldn’t stay offline very long. “Scrap” he swore again softly. “Fragging flying machines” he said out loud to no one. He grabbed his buffer this time and put it away. It was then that he noticed breakdown was gone.  
He saw him standing at the port and noticed the stars were visible again. They had clearly come into a solar system so he assumed this trip would end in two or three breems and walked behind Breakdown. He was surprised Breakdown didn’t hear him after all he wasn’t trying to sneak up on the big lug. He couldn’t help but notice his vitals were slightly increased and he was about to tease his partner about it. Was it fear or something else completely? Knockout recognized flirting when he saw it and he considered himself quiet good at it if not expert. He had used it to get his way before and to lighten moods however he noticed he had been less flippant with it lately and more readily aimed it at Breakdown. He shook his helm. If he returned feelings, which he thought he did, or was slightly scared of the mission it would have made for a joke. It would be ammo for a long time. Just then the announcement was made that the Nemesis was waiting and anyone not going to the Bare Ball Bearings lounge on the outpost better get off now. Knockout laughed. So that was where the femme who gave him the waxes was going. It made perfect sense now. Just then Breakdown turned.

“Knockout! How long have you been standing there?”  
Knockout would have fun with this. “Not very long at all, Breakdown” He answered with a smirk. “Only a little over a breem maybe closer to two. I don’t know I lost track of time. Tell me, what were you thinking about so intently that you didn’t hear me this whole time? Are you going to single handedly destroy the Autobots and win the war yourself, and are nervous about how you are going to do that?” He dropped his voice and fought to keep the laughter out of it. “Or is it something else completely? Something less violent perhaps, umm? He took note of his passive scanners. Your venting rate and spark rate were increased even before I surprised you.” He smiled his own spark pulsing faster than normal. 

“Yes and no, on both counts” he answered curtly. Knockout considered the fact that he may have struck a nerve and would let it go for now. There were far too many bots and the last thing he wanted to do was cause a scene or make Breakdown angry enough to request a transfer and leave before they even got there. “Let’s go upfront, I am not sure where this is going afterwards but I am sure I don’t want to go there.” Knockout followed him again shaking his helm. “You are so right Breakdown you don’t want to go there and I don’t want you to either.” He thought.  
The atmosphere of the Nemesis reminded Knockout of the planetoid they just left and he tried to shake the feeling that he had gotten in over his head on this assignment. It was the flagship of the Decepticons and a warship not a luxury liner but the darkness and purple energon vein-like conduits made him slightly uncomfortable. He heard of the tech aboard the ship and knew of the AI that ran it He shook at the thought that he was inside a being walking around. Eww. He was getting over that unease when they were greeted by a Vehicon assigned to them. The fact that they were greeted by a winged vehicon also disturbed him. Sure, he knew most cons preferred flight capabilities but still. Whatever it was he couldn’t put his finger on it. He was just uneasy. For the briefest of moments he thought the outpost might not be so bad. He shook his helm again. No! That was precisely why Breakdown was there. He would be his partner and more importantly body guard. He reminded himself. He was practically running to keep up with Breakdown and the vehicon escort. 

Finally they arrived at their quarters outside the med bay. He would not have the chance to look around just yet thought because Soundwave was right behind them with their orders. A potential energon source had been found and they were to scout it immediately. At least that was what Knockout got from the pieced together sound bites. He was told about the communications officer’s unique quirk, and found it odd that Megatron’s communications officer didn’t speak with his own voice once he actually heard it. He had the coordinates and a ground bridge opened in front of them. He followed behind Breakdown.  
Breakdown had his weapons ready and Knockout followed suit holding his energon prod. There would be no surprises this time for either of them. The thing that was unexpected was how quiet it was. 

“It looks like we are first.” Breakdown said and seemed almost disappointed. Did he want a fight?

“Yes. You know what that means? Finders keepers!” Knockout responded. He was actually relieved. He scanned the area looking for traces of energon. “They may have taken it all already.”

No, according to the preliminaries the amounts were too great for one haul, which is partially why they wanted us both. Intel reports that there are more of us here than Autobots so if it is here they will be coming back I am sure.”  
Knockout checked his coordinates again. “I don’t think so. It looks like we are still too far north. Didn’t want to set us down right on top of the mines I guess in case there were unfriendly bots there.” He was beginning to like Soundwave more now. He twirled his energon prod once before storing it and transforming.  
Knockout had not been on the surface more than five klicks and he had already had enough. The organic matter, dirt and grime was getting all over him transforming only made him realize it was going to get much worse. It forced the grime sticking to his finished further into the paint job and pushed some of it into what were now his insides. It felt horrible. As he drove he felt the grime begin to settle in his undercarriage and the insects flying directly into him as he drove along. They would be in his grille forever. Never mind the sand on the planet was acting as sandpaper and making small annoying cuts in his finish. He hoped what they found would be worth all this discomfort. However he had no doubt Breakdown found positives to this planet and he’d end up actually liking it. 

“See that, Knockout, the actual readings are several kilometers south.

“I see” He answered suddenly disturbed from his thoughts. He sped up to Breakdown. He didn’t realize how far behind he had fallen. “I hope there is enough energon here to make this worth it. If not it will be a waste and the corrosion on my finish will be irreparable”. He complained about the environment to his partner.  
Breakdown’s engine rumbled. Was Breakdown laughing at him again? He wondered. “Knockout, I promise when we get back if it is as bad as you think I will buff it for you until you are once again shiny and perfect. However, know it doesn’t bother me if you have a bit of grime on you though.”  
That was an odd way of trying to reassure him. “I will hold you to it” was all he said. They drove about five kilometers when Knockout received a comm from the Nemesis. 

:Knockout, come to the Nemesis. It has come to my attention that Lord Megatron is in need of your expertise:

:Acknowledged Commander. On my way: Great, he thought. The perfect excuse to get off this dirt ball. At that point he would do almost anything.

“Ah, Breakdown, It would appear that Lord Megatron is in need of my services. I will this to you. See you in a megacycle or so.”

“I got the same comm.”  
How bad could the warlord be for him to call both of us? He would find out soon enough. “While you are my partner, I believe I can handle the medical case. If I need your assistance I will comm you. Until then we need fuel, get it and have fun with the Autobots should they decide unwisely to join you. I hate I will miss all the fun.” He said his voice dripping with sarcasm that was becoming his signature. He drove off headed to the new coordinates of the Nemesis. It was considerably farther than before. It reinforced how very much he hated this place. He needed a distraction and checked the radio. The humans make nice automobiles, He was happy with his Earth mode, hopefully they have something that might be music. He would be disappointed. After several klicks he saw the glow of the ground bridge. Thank Primus he thought and walked through.

“Knockout, where have you been?”  
Where did he think he had been? He raced to the coordinates at full speed. Starscream was acting as if it took an entire orn. He wasn’t the one that moved the ship so far after all. He answered as cool as he could giving away nothing. “It was a long drive Starscream. I am still picking bugs out of my grille.”

“Oh yes, you are one of those.”

One of those? Knockout had a good idea where he was going with that comment but he would not be insulted by anyone whose finish was inferior to his regardless of their position with the Decepticons. He would not make assumptions though. “Come again?”

“I do not understand why any self respecting Decepticon would choose automobile as his vehicle mode when he is capable of flight.”

That was precisely what Knockout thought the stubborn arrogant flying fragger of a commander meant. He took a moment to cool his processer. The fact he was a grounder was the whole reason he got the job to begin with. Well, that and his exceptional skills and fixing, and breaking, other Cybertronians. He was getting ready to break the commander. “I like the way I look in steel belted radials” Thankfully Starscream dropped the conversation with that explanation. “So, I take it Lord Megatron needs a laboratory assist?”

“You could say that.” He led the doctor to where Megatron was. 

What he saw was the last thing he expected. He was prepared for minor damaged but seeing his leader like this threw him and it took him longer than he wanted to recover from the shock. He tried unsuccessfully to hide his surprise. He had no doubt he could make the necessary repairs but he would need extra hands. “Oh! I am known for body work and some say I am better at breaking them than fixing them. If only my assistant were here.” 

“I summoned Breakdown too. Where is he?”

“We were hot on an energon trail when you called. He will be up when he finishes.” 

Knockout checked the machines keeping Megatron alive. He ran his internal scanners and noticed the obvious spark chamber damage. The thing that puzzled him was that while it was clear he had experienced a spark attack or at least altered rhythm caused from an incredibly strong energy discharge was that it almost looked like it had been deliberately pierced. His spark was regular now. He scanned his processor and from what he could tell he was in an induced stasis from the blast. That was definitely for the best. He needed to stay that way until all the repairs were made. It would be awhile and instead of waiting on Breakdown he decided it was best to get started. He worked for about a megacycle when Breakdown returned with a very interesting discovery.

“It appears Lord Megatron will have to wait.” Starscream informed him. “We will acquire this relic for ourselves. Soundwave has discovered its location. Unfortunately it is already right under the Autobot’s pedes. 

“No doubt they have located it as well considering how quickly they left the site.” Breakdown reported.

“Fine. We let them do all the work and think they have it, and then we take it from them. Since they will already have it we need a diversion and Soundwave can see to it that Laser beak brings it to us during the chaos that will surely be there. Have fun.”

“You aren’t coming, commander?” Breakdown asked.

“Why would I? Someone needs to remain on board to serve in Lord Megatron’s proxy. I am the First Lieutenant so I will do just that.”He is one lazy, arrogant, ambitious, fragger, Knockout thought for the third time that orn. At least it should be easy. 

This time he was first out of the ground bridge. He saw the building already surrounded by the Autobots. Create a distraction indeed. He whistled as he drove up to the Prime. “Nice rims! I bet you’re real heavy duty, kind of like my friend here.” He backed up as Breakdown drove up and fired at Optimus. Knockout was surprised when he actually caught the missile. Oh no. He thought. I don’t care if you are a prime. You won’t get off that easily. He grabbed his energon prod and jabbed it at Optimus while the large bot was off balance already and he fell forward. “Score” Knockout said in an inaudible whisper.  
He watched Breakdown fire at the scouts and saw Bulkhead come at him. He held his prod ready for the large mech to foolishly continue to run at him. “Come on big lug” he muttered. “Fall like your leader.” Just then Laser Beak flew over with the relic. 

“Ok, that would be game.” Knockout announced as he and Breakdown drove off.  
Knockout was in a much better mood when he returned to the Nemesis that time than he had been since they left Cybertron. He was enjoying the victory back in a corner of the med bay when Breakdown walked in. Knockout knew right away that Breakdown did not share his mood at all. 

“He is the commander?” Breakdown asked furious. “I am sure he is in no way concerned about Megatron’s well being. He is shooting for command himself. I have never seen a leader stand by while his men secure a victory and then act like it is all his. If Megatron off lines then that will be that much glory for him!”  
Knockout did not want his good mood ruined, especially not by his partner. “What is it Breakdown. Suddenly you don’t like ambition and intelligence? I am hurt.” He was really trying not to laugh given the circumstances. 

Breakdown ex vented sharply. “You have to make everything about you, don’t you? You are noting like the commander. For starters HE doesn’t flirt with the enemy’s leader.”  
Knockout was genuinely surprised by that reaction. Breakdown had to know there was nothing behind that. Clearly they were told to create a diversion. He thought the idea was brilliant. It worked anyway. “You heard that did you? Well, first of all Starscream would do an thing including flirting or even interfacing with the enemy if he thought it would help him” Knockout argued. “Besides it wasn’t really flirting. It was a statement of fact. He has nice rims and is quite the build. If your optics work you can see that. I was making small talk before I had the pleasure of shocking him. It made it that much more entertaining. Breakdown, I like beautiful things. I also like dissecting beautiful things; you know to see if they are as pretty inside. But I only flirt with one mech.” He looked Breakdown in the optics, “And that mech knows who HE is.” He smiled and put his hand on Breakdown’s. “Besides Breakdown, jealousy is so unbecoming on you. Believe me I would know. Let’s get out of here before Soundwave hears this conversation and stabs us in the back.”  
Breakdown had little time to respond before they were summoned again to test the relic. The events of that test were something Knockout truly wanted to erase from his memory banks as soon as he got the chance. He had overestimated the commander. He wasn’t as intelligent as he initially thought. He doubted Megatron would have lost the relic to the Autobots and he was furious. All the scratches and dents for absolutely nothing. He was almost looking forward to the commander’s routine maintenance or next set of damage. It was a good thing he was a medic and the warship’s only medic. Had he been a solider he would have considered mutiny. He found scrapes he didn’t know he had. “Breakdown. I need a hand with the buffer!” He said hoping his partner would distract him. 

“Fine I am coming you vain mech.”

He brought the buffer and began to work on Knockout’s finish. It felt good, and he began to relax as Breakdown rubbed out the scratches dents and tension that had worked its way into his circuits and joints. “Breakdown you are a master at this. I am not sure what I would do without you.”

“Find someone else to buff you.”

“It is not just about that, and besides no one else would put up with me.”

“You grow on bots, mech. Few would tolerate me. Opposites attract.”

They laughed and Knockout fell into recharge. He would be surprised to come online to his own berth. Breakdown saw to that.


	7. Chaos and Comfort

BREAKDOWN

The following couple of decacycles on the Nemesis had been crazy to say the least and   
Breakdown continued to split his time between scouting random energon signatures and assisting Knockout while he labored over Megatron. It was mainly buffing his finish after he welded the gaping holes, doing minor work on the vehicons while Knockout was is the middle of something else, and keeping the med bay clean, spotless rather. Knockout was just as obsessive over the look of his work station as he was his own finish. He also kept shop when Knockout needed to get away and clear his processor, as he put it. He knew what the medic meant. He discovered that some humans liked to race and of course Knockout was faster and had better reflexes than any of the humans so he won every one he participated in, much to the frustration of their current commanding officer. On occasion Breakdown snuck out to watch Knockout race. He could see the why he enjoyed it even though he had no desire to participate. He wouldn’t not even if he had a more suitable alt mode.   
Occasionally Knockout would come back with some scratches and Breakdown would indulge him with his favorite buffer. Knockout returned once when the CO came to check on his progress. Starscream knew about it, no doubt from Soundwave and was none too happy with the medic. One such event Starscream took his insults to a new level and they were both growing tired of the commander’s arrogance. 

“Buff this” Knockout told Starscream mimicking a hand gesture he apparently picked up from the humans.   
Breakdown couldn’t help but smile understanding enough about the fleshies to get the meaning. Even more than that he understood Knockout far better than he thought he ever would when he woke up in post op that day. He knew what set him off and more importantly at that point how to get him to calm down. He walked behind his partner with buffer still in hand and began working on Knockout’s shoulders. He saw Knockout visibly relax.

“Breakdown, that arrogant aft is beginning to make me want to break something. Given the choice it would be him anyone else would be too easy. But then again maybe I need easy.” He shook his helm. “As if I really needed another reason to get Megatron back online, one more orn under ‘lord’ Starscream’s command will drive me crazy.”   
Breakdown switched to his back. “I know. It looks like you are close. He is clearly still in there.” The monitors clearly showed a functioning neural net.”You got this. You pulled me from the edge of the Well when others would have given up, and you did it more times than should have been necessary. Starscream isn’t stupid enough to do any real damage to you. I don’t think he is capable of repairing himself and certainly not the others. You are the only medic here.”   
Knockout then startled him by laying down his tools and turning abruptly. “You are right! I am going out again tonight. I need to…think. Call it a research project. I will be back before too late; I shouldn’t be out longer than half a joor. Watch over the med bay and call me if an emergency arises or if Megatron shows signs of coming around.”

“Uh, Knockout-,” Breakdown had a really good idea where he was going and he didn’t like it. Starscream had just threatened him about racing and there was no way he would believe that there was anything on the surface that could help Megatron. No, he definitely wouldn’t buy the research excuse. 

“No, I am going. I will deal with consequences later. I am going to do research.” He transformed and headed as quickly as he could to the ground bridge controls. 

“I don’t know why I even bother sometimes.” Breakdown thought and put away the buffer. He double checked the schedule and confirmed there were no more scheduled maintenance appointments. He cleaned up quickly leaving the lab in perfect condition and went to the controls. He tried to hurry but didn’t want to appear suspicious following so closely behind Knockout, but at the same time if he wanted the research lie to seem believable he didn’t want to wait too long. They were partners after all. He didn’t want him running into trouble on the off chance that it wasn’t just humans racing that night. He knew certain Autobots had a knack for speed too and no doubt wanted to burn some…stress too. He hoped the Autobots considered themselves above such things, arrogant and goody goody as they were befriending humans, but war was draining on anyone. He’d be close enough to be backup, but not close enough to be seen.   
That was assuming of course that Breakdown would be able to find him once he got there. Knockout left the coordinates in the ground bridge so he shouldn’t be that hard to track. Breakdown transformed and drove through. He got to the coordinates, somewhere in Wyoming. He had no idea where Knockout would race here and by the time he got there Knockout was long gone. Fortunately, because of Knockout’s haste his skid marks and tracks were evident. He followed them driving as fast as he could, not being built for speed he only hoped he could catch him before he got into trouble while on the planet and convince him to return to the Nemesis before Starscream noticed they were gone. He wasn’t going to attempt to contact him yet. He said only in the case of an emergency and it wasn’t, at least not yet. He could still see the tracks. If he lost the trail he would try to contact him.

He drove until dusk following the trail left behind. He laughed. As diligent as he was with most aspects of his life Knockout wasn’t careful at all about leaving tracks. Clearly there were still some things he could teach his partner. He passed through some towns but mostly it was wide open roads. He noticed on many of them there were no speed limits just warnings about being safe. “This was why Knockout chose it,” he thought, “less chance of getting stopped by the local authorities for breaking speed laws. Clever. Maybe he wasn’t planning on drag racing the humans after all.”   
He decided then to break radio silence. : Knockout, where are you? What is going on?: He was getting concerned that something actually happened when he didn’t respond, at least until he came up on a town.   
Of course he would have known that simply speeding wasn’t going to be enough, Knockout was far too competitive to just let racing down a highway alone, thinking, would be enough to get out his frustrations. His hopes of that were instantly dashed when he came into a town. Several humans were standing around their cars at what appeared to be a school. What he thought he heard them say was enough to get his attention.

“I have never seen him around here”

“Me either, no doubt an exchange student rich enough to drive such a car.”

“And too stuck up to even speak to us” another human agreed.

“Yeah, I doubt he will even bother to show up tonight. Not that he would win anyway. So, see you all at 8:45?”  
Breakdown watched as they got back in their vehicles and drove off. He had no doubt Knockout had been here and he had just missed him. “By the Allspark, I should have known better. Nothing to do now but wait, we’ll both deal with the consequences later” He revved his engine loud enough to get their attention and drove off to try to find Knockout before the race started and scope out the ending. He would be at the finish line if nothing else, but his vehicle mode was hardly inconspicuous so he would need to be able to watch without being seen. He followed what he thought was Knockout’s tail lights for a while and attempted to comm. him.   
: Knockout, I know that is you. This isn’t worth the consequences. You got to speed down the freeways, don’t race the humans. I know you came out here to clear your processor. Surely you have done that by now:   
There was no answer and he tried again. : I know that is you just ahead of me. Slow down and think of someone else for a couple of nanoclicks. Or at least think of your finish. This won’t end well:  
When there was still no answer Breakdown accepted the fact that he was being ignored. The fact that the red sports car ahead of him sped up only confirmed it. And it was Breakdown’s turn to get angry. : Stop acting like a sparkling. You’re military now and yeah I agree Starscream is an aft but this is ridiculous. You can’t just run off:

Knockout turned off sharply and Breakdown struggled to follow. He decided he would stop wasting fuel and wait for him back at the finish line. It was already 7:30 anyway. He sat hidden in the shadows that were cast by the odd lighting in the back of the parking lot at the community college. The later he got the more he got lost in thought. They had been out over 3 megacycles. He was surprised by the silence from the Nemesis and a little bit worried. He barely noticed the racers coming in. Knockout was last, just before the human who would start the race parked her car and came to the line. “Look, he did come back. Get ready to get beat!” Laughter followed and Knockout just revved his engine in response.

The human blew the whistle and Knockout was at the finish line before the others made it halfway but he didn’t stop, instead he surprised Breakdown by speeding up.   
He took off after him. It wasn’t like Knockout to not stop and relish in the victory. Something was wrong. 

: Knockout, what happened? What is going on?:

: Breakdown: Knockout practically growled over the comm. link: All I wanted to do was enjoy an evening and race. Like I said before I left, to clear my processor. I am not going AWOL and I know protocol. At the moment I simply don’t care and I don’t need a sparkling sitter. I am not a sparkling! Primus, I hope nothing of importance happened while you were gone from the Nemesis since you are so worried about my job! :

: You heard me earlier? : He was surprised. 

: Of course I did. I was hoping my silence would give you a clue. I knew nothing was wrong. You didn’t sound urgent enough and I knew you were behind me. I had nothing to say then. I still don’t. You have defeated the purpose of me even coming out here. I can’t work on Lord Megatron now. I don’t have answers and-: 

: Sorry, Knockout. : Breakdown feared he had crossed limits but he couldn’t see himself staying on the Nemesis without him. If something happened he would have been responsible. Knockout was definitely growing on him for reasons he couldn’t explain he still couldn’t stay mad at the smaller mech. 

: Let me just drive a klick okay. You can follow if you want. I don’t know where I am going though. :  
Breakdown followed him in silence for a megacycle into the mountainous area and pulled off by an overlook. There was no one around and Breakdown transformed first. He wanted to let Knockout know that he wasn’t going to drive off. “Whatever happens when we get back I am there too.”  
Knockout transformed too and sat down beside him. “I know you are. Thank you Breakdown.” He laughed. “You do realize you just risked your finish too.”

“Fortunately I don’t care about mine.” He was sitting in mud. “Clearly.” He looked up at the stars. “It is quiet out here. The stars are pretty. One of them is why we are doing this. One of them is Cybertron. If you look closely you can see patterns in the stars. They are woven together to look like figures in the humans history. There is Gemini the twin, and Orion the Hunter.”

“Yeah,” Knockout answered. Hydraulics hissed and his fans began to slow as he was cooling down in more ways than one.   
They just sat there resting on their arms and looking at the stars when suddenly Knockout jumped up and transformed. “That’s it, Breakdown. I know how to get Megatron out of stasis. Thank you!” He drove off and Breakdown transformed and followed without bothering to ask how he knew or what he had done to receive gratitude.   
They drove a couple of klicks when a ground bridge opened and they returned to the Nemesis only to find Starscream waiting.

“You have been out with the humans again!?” He screamed at them before either got the chance to explain.

“We were resear-“Breakdown tried to answer as Knockout tried to get to the operating berth Megatron was on.

“I am no fool, Breakdown. I know what he was doing.” Starscream stopped Knockout before he could begin changing the connections to Megatron and getting to his helm. 

“Don’t worry, doctor, your punishment will be purely cosmetic.”

“Not the finish. Anything but the finish” Knockout said as he was forced to follow Starscream.  
Breakdown unable to do anything turned off his audios for the time being. “Starscream is such a fool, an arrogant stubborn, pain in the aft, fool.” 

“Leaders usually listen to their subordinates even if they don’t believe them or agree with them.” He told Megatron as he adjusted the monitors and made preparations for Knockout when he got back which would be none too soon.   
Knockout returned and seemed calm considering the circumstances. He looked worse than Breakdown had ever seen. He made a conscious effort not to stare and turned his audio receptors back on even though he was sure most of the communication that evening would be via private comm. 

“Let’s get started Breakdown. Hand me the laser scalpel to your right.”

“Are you sure, Knockout, Megatron has been in stasis this long surely he could stand to wait another megacycle.” Knockout tried to argue. Breakdown wouldn’t let him. “Let me fix your finish. You can focus better then. You are fidgeting too much to try to operate right now anyway. The last thing we need is for you to slip up and offline him for good. Primus, if Starscream was leader…”  
Knockout reluctantly agreed and followed Breakdown into the adjoining operating suite. Breakdown discovered that was one area of the ship that Soundwave didn’t constantly have an optic on. He guessed he had no interest in watching surgeries.   
Breakdown already had Knockout’s favorite buffer and waxes out. “Make yourself comfortable.” He started at his back. “I am sorry.”

“You didn’t do anything, Breakdown. I just hate it when Starscream gets a hold of you.”  
Breakdown laughed. “I don’t care about my finish. He can do whatever he wants. What is one more scar? Besides, if he tried I would fight back and he knows it. Hammer time anyone?”  
They were quiet for a few klicks and focused on the whine of the buffer. “I would have gotten it anyway Breakdown. Even if I had come back earlier and if I didn’t I wouldn’t have seen the stars with you and get the answer I needed about the glitch in Megatron’s neural net. The picture was in the stars. So you have absolutely nothing to be sorry about. Starscream however…”

“I know you’re not a sparkling. I was angry too. I am supposed to be your body guard, remember. If you run off…”

“You are doing fine, Breakdown stop beating yourself up. That feels good.”

“I think that you will be able to reach the rest yourself. Here are the waxes. Which one would you like?” He took the one Knockout picked and began to polish his finish. 

“Thank you.” Knockout whispered. After a few klicks he announced without any preamble. “You’re mine!” 

Breakdown almost dropped the wax. “What?”

Primus, you heard me, Mech! You’re mine! My assistant, my maestro with the buffer, my-“ He paused looking for the word. “Ich baruche dich. I need you.” He finally added.

Breakdown was certain he wasn’t hearing correct. He double checked his audios. It was like he had been physically struck by something. “Possessive, aren’t we?” He said trying to hide the shock. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.” He smiled and continued.

“Breakdown, be glad you didn’t just spill my wax a klick ago.”

“It would have been your fault dropping that on me like you did. I- I need you too.”

“Well that is settled.” Knockout finished buffing and waxing and put away the waxes. “Let us go and awaken our leader shall we?”

“Gladly” He answered.   
They worked silently and after almost a joor inside Megatron’s helm they brought him out of stasis.

“Welcome back, Lord Megatron.” Knockout said smiling.   
I  
n spite of the way the orn began, Breakdown couldn’t ask for a better ending. Primus, and Knockout both loved him and his leader and order would be back to the Nemesis. 

KNOCKOUT

The humans had a series of interrelated sayings, nothing is as easy as it looks, everything takes longer than you think, and if it can go wrong it will. If anyone would have bothered to ask the medic that day, Knockout would have agreed with his entire spark. In fact, that was the perfect summary of life on the Decepticon flagship since arriving it seemed. He stood over Megatron’s body yet again trying to figure out what he missed. He made all the visible repairs and yet there he was still in stasis lock with only the monitors showing any signs of life. The same monitors showed full processor function and normal brain waves. He simply wasn’t waking up.”Scrap, come on big M, you have been napping long enough. Wake up and do your job, lead us to victory.” He told the unresponsive frame on a regular basis. He discovered very quickly he needed something to help him relax and wind down for recharge.   
Fortunately, Knockout had no trouble finding a hobby and harmless way to relieve stress; he considered it harmless anyway, about once a decacycle he would go beat the humans in street racing. He never had to blow his cover and he was completely relaxed when he returned. His last trip to the circuit didn’t end so well and he was planning on getting lost in research. He saw Breakdown waiting for him. “Can you believe what that skin job did to me?!”Breakdown could only stare. Knockout was about to return to what he was doing to worry about buffing later, but before he could get to the lab the commander intercepted him. 

“You have been street racing with the humans again haven’t you?”

No scrap, commander glad your optics are functioning. “I am not only an automobile, I’m an automobile enthusiast.” Humans had a couple of positive traits. They were talented in designing cars and they liked to race. 

“I run a tight ship, Knockout. I strongly suggest you seek my permission next time you decide to disappear on one of you jaunts.”  
Knockout narrowed his optics and with an ample amount of snarkiness replied. “No worries, Herr Kommandant”

“It is LORD to you”

Is that not exactly what I said? So Lord commander isn’t enough? “Only if Megatron takes a nose dive.”  
“The day our master emerges from stasis I’ll gladly relinquish the title but I believe that outcome is unlikely; something about the quality of medical care around here. So continue buffing. We want Megatron to look his best for the memorial.”

Knockout could feel his energon begin to boil. Just wait until your next maintenance check, or even better the next damage you receive. It will be the best few breems ever, for me anyway. He envisioned Starscream in pieces at his servos. “Buff this” was all he said. The only hint of his anger was a crude hand gesture. He turned back to Breakdown who was buffing the seam from the newly repaired hole in his chassis. “I could think of a thousand procedures for Starscream right now, none of the pleasant- at least not for him but beneficial- for all of us. Schedule that check for some point this decacycle.”

“With pleasure.” Breakdown responded. 

Knockout checked the connections to the monitors and their read out. “It has to be because of the unstable dark energon. Who would willingly put that in their veins? Even if they did think it might resurrect the dead, it is ridiculous.” Knockout shook. “Uggh. I’d rather just join the all spark.”  
Breakdown didn’t suggest an answer. The next thing Knockout felt was the buffer on his back. He simply stood there for a nanoclick and enjoyed it, tension leaving his frame. Breakdown sure knew how to force him to relax. “Breakdown, I would love to get my hands on something and pull it apart, specifically him.” He shook his helm in frustration. “As if I needed another reason to get Lord Megatron back online. One more orn with lord Starscream is ten too many.”

“It looks to me like you are close. He is clearly still in there.”

“Yes. I just wish he was able to hear Starscream’s treasonous words earlier.”

: I am beginning to doubt my ability to bring him out of stasis? I’d hate it if Starscream was right. :

“You can, Knockout, you brought many of us from the edge of the Well when others would have left us there. I don’t care what Starscream says, he knows you are the best medic we could have. He is a fool to think otherwise.”

“You are right. I am going to finish here, finish buffing, and then I am going down to do some-uh research. I am not waiting another decacycle.” Breakdown tried to interrupt. “Don’t even try to stop me. I will deal with any consequences later. I need this.” He turned and stormed to the ground bridge controls thankful that Sound wave didn’t argue much when he told him he was going down to do some research on an idea he had to bring Megatron out of stasis, and that Starscream wasn’t there. He didn’t really have any idea where he was going just that he didn’t know of any scheduled street races so he needed somewhere he could drive fast without having to worry too much about the local authorities. He didn’t want to deal with squishy parts all over his pedes that evening. He had no misconceptions that by the end of the orn he would need a long appointment with the buffer. It would be worth it though. He thought. He set the ground bridge to the middle of a place called Wyoming, transformed and took off through it at full speed. He didn’t slow down when his wheels touched the sand. It felt good and he might actually be inspired with something this evening. If not a t least he would b be snarky and snap at Breakdown of all bots.   
He considered driving a few more klicks and returning when he came up on a small town. “Scrap, time to slow down.” His breaks screeched kicking up dirt around. “My filters are going to need maintenance after this drive. Again it is worth it.” He was about to turn around and race the clock by getting back in less time than he got here. Where ever here was when he saw young humans standing around their vehicles. All were sports cars and appeared capable of high speed. Knockout pulled up closer to better hear their conversation. If this was what he thought it was he didn’t want to miss details. The humans noticed him. 

“Hey, we haven’t seen you around here before, you must be a transfer student.” 

“Quiet one huh?” Another human asked. “Anyway, wanna race tonight. You might stand a chance, besides we like new blood in our races. The more we can beat the better.” He leaned on Knockout’s hood.  
Knockout fought the urge to transform and squish him for daring to touch his finish with his grimy oily hands. Organic coolant was absolutely disgusting and this one was covered in it.

“What are you afraid?” The humans laughed. “If you grow a set and want to come and get beat we start at 8:45.”  
Knockout revved his engine in agreement even though he knew the humans wouldn’t understand it as such. He drove off sending the human who dared recline on him to the pavement. 

“Scared and stuck up. Con on back here and we’ll pound you for that”

“He won’t fight. He is to afraid to even race us. Come on lets go.”  
Knockout ignored that. Sure there would be a pounding tonight and he would enjoy every astrosecond of giving it. Knockout had his priorities though. First he had to get the grime and organic coolant off of him. He searched the web and found the nearest car wash. He would have Breakdown do details later the rinse would have to work for now. That was when he heard his comm. link. : Knockout, where are you? What is going on?: 

Scrap, why can’t I have just one joor? He knew by the tone of his partner’s voice that there was no emergency and it was out of his concern that caused that call. So he ignored it. Most bots he worked with in the past knew what his silence meant. He wanted to be undisturbed. Never mind the fact that he made that clear to Breakdown before he left.   
He drove toward the car wash at full speed thinking he saw Breakdown behind him. He knows where I am, why bother asking? He turned up his radio hoping to block any potential comms after that. He knew Breakdown wouldn’t take the hint today. 

: Knockout this isn’t worth it:   
The pit it isn’t. Primus, why can’t humans have decent music. 

: You came out here to clear your processor-you’ve done that by now:   
Yes I did and no I haven’t. He sped up and so did Breakdown keeping right up with him. 

: Slow down and think of someone other than yourself for once. At least think of your finish. You know this won’t end well. :  
So Breakdown is a seer now. It will end fine. And I am thinking of someone else. Right now I have that human in mind as well as getting answers for Megatron. That was the whole point of this!

: Stop acting like a sparkling who needs a sparkling sitter. Screamer is an aft but you can’t just run off. You have to know that. You joined up, remember:  
Knockout was almost as mad with Breakdown now as he was with Starscream that morning. How dare he imply that he was a sparkling and a traitor to the Decepticons? He really didn’t need this and if he responded he would likely lose an assistant and body guard. Scrap! Settle down Knockout the Carwash is…scrap. He turned sharply. In his musings he almost missed the turn. Keep up with me now Breakdown.  
He pulled into the Carwash and noticed Breakdown quit following him. He rolled up deposited the coins and rolled in. The water felt wonderful and while the brushes couldn’t compare to the buffers it was nice. He used the full priced deal and enjoyed the wax as well. He went through a couple of times and decided to drive slowly back to the race.   
He pulled up and noticed the humans had already gathered. “Look who came to join us after all.” 

“I guess he wasn’t scared. Ready to eat some dust?”

Knockout said nothing and took his place at the starting line. The human blew her whistle and Knockout and his superior reflexes was half way to the finish line before the humans even took off.   
That was way too easy he thought as he neared the finish line only to see Breakdown in the shadows. He just had to follow and ruin his victory celebration with the humans. Instead of stopping he sped up. So much for going back to the Nemesis at a decent megacycle. It might cost him his finish tonight but he was I no mood to talk with Breakdown now. He blared whatever noise was on the radio when he started but he still heard Breakdown being persistent.

: Knockout what happened? What is going on? :

Knockout sighed. : Breakdown: his voice came through the link as a low growl. It sounded angrier than he actually felt though not by much. : I just wanted an evening to race. Like I said before I wanted to think. I am under no circumstance going AWOL or anything else. It may surprise you but right now I don’t care. I am not a sparkling and you’re correct as such I don’t need a sparkling sitter. You made the choice to come down. Primus, I hope nothing important actually happened up there considering you came down here. :

: You heard me earlier:

: My audios are fine. I was simply hoping my silence would clue you in. I knew nothing was wrong simply because you didn’t sound urgent enough. I saw you behind me. I had nothing to say then and I have nothing to say now! You defeated the whole purpose of me coming out here. I have no answers and I am still too worked up to work on Megatron now even if I went back. 

: Sorry Knockout:

: Let me just drive a Klick. You can follow if you want but let me warn you, I have no idea where I am going. And I am in no mood to speak:  
Breakdown accused him of not thinking of anyone but himself. That was usually true he had to admit but this time when he actually had someone else on his processor the accusation bothered him. He would never admit it though. He didn’t know where he was going but he knew Breakdown would follow, he also knew Breakdown liked this planet and liked watching the sky, no doubt dreaming about Cybertron. Pit, Knockout did it occasionally while on those races. He raced on Cybertron frequently after all. The humans were simply not challenging. Because of all this he chose to drive to a mountainous place just outside of the town they had raced in. He saw it while looking for the car wash. He signaled and let Breakdown know he would be turning off at the lookout. He still didn’t want to speak just yet. He flashed his headlights and Breakdown transformed and sat down in a muddy area.

“I wanted to let you know I have you back. Whatever happens when we do get back, I am there with you.” Breakdown finally said breaking the silence.

Knockout transformed and sat down cringing when he saw where his partner was sitting. “I know you are, and thank you. You do realize you just risked your finish for me.”

He looked at the mud. “Like I care about that.” He leaned back on his arms looking up at the sky. “It is quiet out here. The stars are pretty. One of them is Cybertron. “  
Knockout knew that of course and he also knew that it was too far off for them to be able to see it. 

“If you look closely you can see patterns in the sky. The humans thought they looked like some of their gods and made up stories.” He pointed up. “There is Gemini the twin and Orion the Hunter.

“Yeah,” Knockout answered. His hydraulics hissed and his fans were still in high gear trying to cool down his frame. He no longer burned with anger. The humans weren’t the only ones who noticed patterns in the stars. It wasn’t mythical characters Knockout saw instead it reminded him of optics, or even if he looked at the distant fainter stars it looked like junction points in a neural net. There was a faint one that he almost didn’t see. It flashed and then disappeared. But if he drew a line from that one to the brightest one to its left- “That’s it Breakdown, I know how to get Megatron out of stasis. Thank you!” He drove off and Breakdown followed. 

They drove a couple of klicks and Knockout called for a ground bridge, praying it would be Soundwave who answered. No such luck. Oh well, he didn’t care. He would take whatever Starscream gave him and add it to his tab at his check.   
He was about to announce his solution when Starscream stepped in. “You have been out with the humans-again!” He screamed before either one of them could explain. Breakdown tried but was cut off. “I am no fool Breakdown. I know what you were doing. Don’t worry doctor; your punishment will be purely cosmetic.”

“Not the finish, anything but the finish! NOOOOOOO!” He walked out later looking worse than he ever did. “Don’t worry commander; I will be sure to be extra gentle with you the next time you are on one of my berths in my med bay!” He said loud enough for his partner to hear and he was sure Starscream did too. If he did the seeker did not let on he had.

“Let’s get started, Breakdown.” He said trying to keep his frame from visibly shaking. “Hand me that laser scalpel to your right.” He needed to focus.

“Are you sure Knockout, Megatron has been in stasis this long. Surely one Megacycle would hurt.”

“Breakdown, we need to do this now. Starscream-“  
Breakdown cut him off before he could finish his argument. “Let me fix your finish. You can focus better then. You are shaking way too much to try to operate now. I would hate for you to slip up and offline Megatron for good and leave Screamer in command.”  
Knockout had to admit Breakdown was right and reluctantly agreed. “The other operating suite is open. Soundwave doesn’t monitor them all the time. The couple walked in and Breakdown grabbed Knockout’s favorite buffer. “Make yourself comfortable” He told him as Knockout sat down on the berth and ex-vented. 

“Do your magic, Breakdown.”  
Breakdown turned it on and began. “I am sorry, Knockout.”

“For what?” I wouldn’t have been to that clearing and saw the stars if you had not followed me. I am sorry you will get Starscream’s wrath later.”

“He won’t touch me. I don’t care about my finish and if he touches me I will fight back. He knows it. Hammer time!” He paused. “Sorry about the sparkling comment. I was angry too. I am supposed to be your body guard and you ran off. If something had happened to you-”

Knockout just laughed. “All is well that ends well.” He relaxed. “Umm that feels good!”  
He continued for a few klicks more. When he was finished he asked Knockout which wax he preferred and opened it.  
Knockout had waited long enough. It was now or never because Breakdown didn’t say anything at the clearing he didn’t think he was going to so Knockout broke the silence. “You’re mine!” He said giving into feelings. 

Breakdown almost wasted the entire canister of wax. “What?”

“Primus, you heard me mech. You are mine, my assistant, my maestro with the buffer my-“he couldn’t think of how to put what he was feeling. “Ich baruche dich. I-I need you.”

“Possessive aren’t we?” Breakdown said smiling. “I wouldn’t have it any other way, Knockout. I need you too.”

“Well that is settled” knockout said taking the wax and finishing up what he could reach. “I’ll take the wax before you drop it. I’d hate to be angry with you again. Let’s go and awaken our leader, shall we?’”

“Gladly!”

“Hand me the scalpel now, Breakdown.” He opened his helm and saw just what he saw in the stars. He made the connections that were missing and noticed the monitors light up. “Well well well look who decided to finally join us. Welcome back Lord Megatron!”

The orn ended much better than it began. Knockout gave Megatron his orders and left to recharge with Breakdown right behind him.


	8. Whole again...

BREAKDOWN

After Megatron came back online things aboard the Nemesis fell into something of a routine, scouting energon signatures sometimes with Knockout, skirmishes over some of them, more encounters with Bulkhead, some of those he enjoyed more than others, and when he wasn’t busy with war issues, he spent time with Knockout. Mostly he kept the Med bay in order as Knockout was meticulous in order, but occasionally he would assist as he did with Megatron, and did some of the maintenance checks. He and Knockout’s friendship continued to deepen and it became easier. It was easy to hide from most of the others. If they suspected anything they didn’t seem to care. Then things got interesting.  
Knockout was finishing up working on a vehicon that took a blast to the wing and Breakdown was behind him cleaning his equipment and restocking the Med Bay. 

“Breakdown,” Starscream said coming in the med bay surprising them all, “A new energon signature has been found in a remote area on the surface. Lord Megatron has requested that you go and check it out. Quickly, before the Autobots locate the signal. It was very faint.”

“Go on, I’m almost finished. I will follow you down.”

Breakdown paused to wait, considering they went together on the last couple of remote signatures only to find the area had been mined or it was simply traces. If there was as much as he hinted at, it would be nice to have a second transport. 

“That won’t be necessary, Knockout” Starscream told him. “Take your time; Breakdown can handle this one solo.”  
Breakdown followed Starscream with some reluctance to the bridge. “So far we haven’t noticed anyone, Cybertronian or Human, near the signature.”   
The Autobots pets were usually with them, even on potentially dangerous outings, or so it seemed to Breakdown. Perhaps there was more to them that he thought. He immediately dismissed that idea as completely foolish and focused his attention back on Starscream. 

“If you move quickly and report we can have miners right behind you to gather it quickly and if we are lucky the Autobots will never have noticed it. If I am wrong you can finish them without a distraction.” Starscream glanced toward the med bay. “You are quite the warrior.”   
He entered the coordinates into the ground bridge and walked through. It was just as Starscream described, in a foggy, abandoned warehouse. He had no idea what energon was doing here. If there were ever mines under here the clueless humans built over them and mining was going to be difficult. The reading was growing stronger. This has to be a trap Breakdown thought. Proceed with caution. He told himself. He walked behind the building and still seeing nothing he was getting uncomfortable. He was about to inform the Nemesis of the situation when he read another Cybertronian spark signature. Autobot! He walked up to attempt to catch him off guard. However he was not expecting the Autobot to crash through the wall nor was he expecting Bulkhead. It was not an unpleasant surprise. Knockout liked to race to wind down. He liked to fight Autobot wreckers.

“Bulkhead, Imagine you and I bumping into each other in the middle of nowhere while tracking a stray energon signal!”

“Ah, Breakdown, it must be you lucky day”

Indeed! Surprised you were actually smart enough not to drag your human along though it would have been more fun that way. “Where’s your pet human? How about when I finish with you I pay her a visit?” What happened next threw him off guard and he found himself looking up at Bulkhead, but he recovered quickly. “So the wrecker’s got a soft spark.” Breakdown tried not to laugh out loud. He loved playing on weaknesses even though he wouldn’t waste time on the humans. He jumped as Bulkhead attacked and threw him to his back. “As much as I’ll miss our little reunions-Hammer Time!” He was about to really enjoy smashing his arch enemy’s helm when a sensation like a blast from an energon prod hit him in the chassis and he blacked out.   
His systems rebooted and he began to online slowly. His audios were first and he heard voices. He recognized none of them, but they were speaking about him. He heard sounds of metal scraping metal as things shifted around him. The last thing he remembered was Bulkhead. He was about to scrap that Autobot. His optics were next to online and slowly focused. “Humans!” He thought they did this. He tried to stand and realized he couldn’t move due to restraints. A mixture of panic and unrestrained fury flooded his spark. “Where am I?” He fought against the restraints again unable to figure out how the humans managed anything strong enough to restrain him. That was when he noticed them coming in. 

“Filthy fleshlings who do you think you are?” He only halfway heard the answer trying still to reign in his fury long enough to overcome the restraints. “Release me now and I will let you live.”

“Ha, I am afraid you are too valuable to us.”

Did they seriously think that Lord Megatron would pay a ransom? Fools! “Megatron will never pay a ransom.”

“Oh but you misunderstand. We don’t want a ransom. We want only you, all of you. Full disclosure: we tend to pull you apart break you down if you will and we will use whatever we find to build a new generation of weaponry. I am afraid you won’t survive so we think you in advance for your sacrifice. MECH is very much in your debt.”   
Breakdown initially had no doubt he would get out of there just fine but the more seconds that past the more he was starting to doubt it. Where was Knockout? He would insist on coming down and bringing others with him if necessary. He would attempt to buy more time while he attempted to comm. Knockout. There was nothing. He had not considered the shields at this point. They were not expecting him to try to contact the Nemesis? They had to be. They had to know something was wrong. “You are making a very big mistake little man. When I am finished with you they’ll have to scrape you off the floor.” He didn’t bother to hold back his fury. He wasn’t sure by then if most of it was at the humans called MECH, or the Nemesis. He was aware of the human speaking again. Something about his pain receptors, he wasn’t sure how they knew about those but now was not the time to fight about it. 

“…he won’t make as much noise. Open him up.”

The whine of the human’s drills were deafening and at that moment terrifying to Breakdown. He tried yet again to reach Knockout and heard himself say his name. It was no use. The drills came straight for his optic and he could do nothing but watch sparks fly as it pierced the bottom of his optic. He heard the snap of small wires breaking and saw only from his left optic. He was aware of the circuits still trying to focus the optic that was now missing. His now monocular vision was disorienting so he closed his other one but continued to attempt to break free. He could feel nothing but was sure the sparks and the sounds of the saws and drills would haunt him forever or as long as he survived this. The lack of response from the nemesis was spark wrenching. Had they really left him? He attempted yet again to contact Knockout via comm. but discovered quickly that was disabled too. Maybe the Nemesis wasn’t ignoring him. “Knockout!” He grunted again, this time barely above a whisper. “I need you!” he whispered into his non functioning comm. link.   
Breakdown was close to despair now more frustrated than anything. He was perfectly fine with joining the all spark but he was a warrior and had every intention of joining the all spark in the middle of a glorious battle with the Autobots not here in some weak fleshlings makeshift lab as a science experiment. He’d almost make a deal with Unicron himself if he could run his horns through these meat bags now.   
Time seemed to drag by and he was fighting off the last pings of panic when the human, Silas, he remembered came back in and announced that his would be rescuers were likely in more pieces than he was. Did the Decepticons come? “The Decepticons don’t break that easily!” 

“Who said they were Decepticons?”

Breakdown was almost at a loss for words. “That doesn’t make sense. Autobots wouldn’t come rescue me!” He tried to shake that idea from his head. What if they did and the Decepticons didn’t? What if Knockout didn’t come but the Autobots did? What if Bulkhead somehow managed to survive and he was his savior? What would he do then? He didn’t have time to contemplate that long before the humans left and he heard shots. He looked up and was sure he was hallucinating. They must have taken his other optic and he was seeing his circuits pulling memories from his processor. That couldn’t be Bulkhead standing behind him. 

“It must be your lucky day!”

“What are you doing? “ It was a stupid question; he knew full well what the Autobot wrecker was doing. He simply didn’t believe it. It was then as if Bulkhead read his mind.

“Getting you out of here. Yeah, I don’t believe it either. Can you walk?”

He stood a little shaky on his damaged legs. They didn’t cut too far but did damage some small energon lines. “I think so”

“Can you run?”

Gratitude for the bot and renewed fury at the humans ran through him. “Why run away when you can fight!” He transformed his hand and pulled his hammer back. Thankful they didn’t discover his t-cog yet. 

“Just keep that thing pointed away from me alright.”

“Yeah”, He said loud enough for only Bulkhead’s audios stifling a laugh. 

The last megacycles of pent up fury was unleashed as he swung at the humans that fired they puny guns at him and the bullets bounced off his armor that he managed to pull back together. He saw one of their choppers and knew that was the only thing powerful enough to damage them. He knocked Bulkhead out of the way before it hit him. The Autobot stood up and looked to be in shock. “You have a backup plan?” He imagined Bulkhead would call for reinforcements and that meant Optimus Prime would no doubt question his intentions. What was he going to do?

“Yeah but you won’t like it.”

He heard Bulkhead radio Optimus Prime. Once again the Autobot was right. Would he defect? They abandoned him so would it really be defection? He looked around still hoping Knockout, or Megatron, would have been down waiting to take him up after taking their own shot at Bulkhead. He couldn’t in good conscious take a shot at him now. That was when he noticed MECH retreating. “Your guys? Breakdown asked doubtful as the shots seemed to come from the sky. Was it possible? He knew they wouldn’t abandon him. He only wished it had been sooner. 

“Commander Starscream?!”

“What are you doing consorting with the enemy?”

This would be the moment of truth. He hoped he could at least call a truce and get back to the Nemesis without further energon shed. “Bulkhead got me out of there.”

“You have our spark felt thanks, Autobot! Now destroy him!”

He hesitated still trying to figure out a way to not attack. 

“Do you plan on joining their ranks any time soon? No? Then be done with it already.”  
He did save Bulkhead from MECHs blast so they were even. “Tough break Bulkhead, maybe in another life.” He attacked just at Optimus came in and the Decepticons left. 

“Remember this when the time comes to choose between Megatron and myself. I would advise you to not tell him of this, ever. Wouldn’t you rather he thought you overcame the puny humans on your own?” He flew back to the Nemesis and Breakdown drove through the Ground Bridge. 

He transformed and stumbled back through the warship. Things settled down and his processor was working overtime on the events of that orn. Every time he suttered his optics, even for an astrosecond he recalled the events with crystal clarity. At times he hated the fact that his processor recorded every detail so clearly. He needed Knockout. He didn’t even want to imagine what they did to him or how he was even still alive. Vehicons stopped him on the way congratulating him on beating the humans and the Autobots. He was sure they knew more than they were letting on. Starscream had the flyers with him and he knew they spoke to each other. Was this vehicon mocking him or did he mean it? Did the vehicons now believe him to be weak as no doubt Megatron did? He wasn’t sure but he was tempted to pound the con just to be sure. No, he told himself that would do no good, and it would only delay your very necessary repairs. He ignored the others or acknowledged them with a grunt of thanks and finally made his way to the med bay. He had to quit looking behind his back and being suspicious of everyone. He was back aboard the Nemesis and he was safe. He needed to disengage his battle protocols and find Knockout.   
Knockout was upset. He had clearly been upset for a while. It was obvious the minute the doors opened. Everything was scrubbed to the shine and all the equipment was polished and in perfect order. The medic himself was pacing the floor muttering to himself something Breakdown couldn’t understand. He assumed it was the human dialect that he often used when he was frustrated or really wanted to drive home a point. “Knockout!” Breakdown said but surprisingly got no response. “Knockout!” he said as loud as his vocal processors would allow and without drawing too much attention. He walked toward the red medic incase he still didn’t hear. Knockout turned and grabbed Breakdown with his head on the larger mech’s scarred and bent chassis. Breakdown froze as battle protocols that were not yet off yet came fully back on. “NO” he thought. They wouldn’t touch him again. He began to go for his hammer and then as soon as it happened he remembered where he was. He ex vented and reminded himself who it was and that he was back safe. There would be no judgment here and he would not be harmed. Knockout had indeed been worried about him. He couldn’t feel the embrace but if it brought his partner some relief he would let him. 

Knockout backed up and looked at his partner. “Breakdown, I am- wha-what have they done to you?”

He shook his helm. “I am unaware of the full extent. My pain receptors are offline.” He paused to get his racing thoughts to settle down. “I felt nothing but they forced me to watch everything, or what I could with one optic and restrained to the floor. I will make them pay for this.” His voice began to shake. “They didn’t follow me did they?” he asked as he sat forcefully down on a berth and looked around.   
‘  
No, they didn’t. They can’t and even if they could they would be fools to do so. You are safe now.” Knockout told him.

“The humans, their drills and saws and-“ his voice trailed off. “If he, if Starscream, had been any later in arriving I there would be less-very little of me left whole.” He dared not mention the Autobots being present at any point. He would not even clue Knockout in on the fact that he ever even considered defecting. He hoped there would not be a situation where the commander would use that against him. He also didn’t want Knockout hear him say just how close he was to off lining. He had no doubt Knockout would know that soon enough.   
Breakdown was sure he could see understanding and even compassion in Knockout’s optics. He knew most didn’t get that. It seemed to Breakdown that Knockout was now struggling with his emotions too, but was able to hold it together. “You’re okay now.” Knockout said with his hands on Breakdown’s shoulders. “Whenever you are ready we can see what all they did, hm? Then I can fix you up so you can be prepared for revenge. I would love to take part in that. I am curious about into how many pieces I can dissect a human.” He told Breakdown smiling. Breakdown knew he was serious and felt himself relax for the first time that orn. “I’ll make you…whole again.”

“Let’s do this.” He said before fear crept back in. He did not miss the double meaning in Knockout’s last phrase and he had no doubts at the doctor’s ability to do just that. “I just hope I don’t freak out and do something I would later regret. My battle protocols are on full force now and will trigger easily. I’d hate to-hurt you.”

“You wont. If you try rest assured I’ll fight back” Knockout assured him smiling. “Now let’s get started before you panic again. Hummm . The obvious damage is to your optic.” He scanned the socket. The circuits are still intact. They are even trying to focus an optic. It shouldn’t be that hard to replace.”  
Breakdown stopped him. “No, that won’t be necessary. I can do without an optic. It will just be a matter of making sure no one comes on that side. Use the recourses on my vital parts and just cover it up or something.” He felt that he should have penance and this would be his, sure he would no doubt have more coming but he needed a reminder every time he looked at himself. Knockout attempted to argue with him but he wouldn’t allow it. “I am serious about this.” He reclined on the berth and let Knockout get started. 

“Fine, but at least let me give you a weapons upgrade if you insist on living the rest of your life half blind.”

Breakdown agreed. “Can we discuss that after everything else?”

“Of course.” Knockout looked at him with a hint of concern. “You can’t feel anything, but due to what you went through I can put you in stasis if it will help; If you seriously think your battle protocols would cause problems.” Knockout told him grabbing the connections to the monitors and attaching them to Breakdown’s major ports. 

The thought of stasis right now terrified Breakdown more than witnessing his own surgery, again. He already spent the orn feeling totally out of control and while he trusted Knockout with his spark, but he didn’t want to give his processor, even unconscious, the chance to make him think he was losing control. He knew he could ask Knockout for a break should the need arise. He asked him just to be sure. “No, please just do it. You’ll stop for a nanoklick if I start to panic, right?”

“Of course, but I’ll keep you distracted enough so that shouldn’t be necessary.” He looked at the armor and the crude cut in it. “Breakdown, can you still open your armor for me? The less I actually have to cut you again the better.” Breakdown transformed it back revealing the damaged wires and cables directly under it and his frame. “Good” Knockout assured him. He quickly repaired the numerous energon veins that had been severed in many places He ran a deep scan. “Here comes the worst part, sorry Breakdown.”  
Breakdown once again heard the whirl of the saw and fought to keep his processor in the present. It is okay. It is just Knockout. He knows what he is doing and I am safe. Knockout chatted with him about past battles and meeting the first time with the splinter of a building sticking out of his back. They were pleasant memories and it worked to keep his mind occupied. 

“The worst of it is over. Do you need a klick?” 

“I think I am ok.” He was surprised at his own ability to hold together. He made it this far He was sure he actually would be...complete.”

“Stupid humans. I still don’t know what they were trying to accomplish here. They are sloppy. I definitely think we need to teach them how to operate. I would be more than happy to demonstrate for them on their leader, Silas was it?”

“Uh-huh” Breakdown confirmed. He saw Knockout gather bonding agents and the welder and could only guess what they had done. He knew Knockout was dangerously close to his spark chamber. “So, what are you doing in there, rebuilding me another spark chamber?”

“Fortunately, as bad as they did, they didn’t destroy it completely.” Knockout said but Breakdown knew Knockout well enough to know he wasn’t telling him the whole truth. 

“If you say so.” He replied, ex venting yet again. He distracted himself by listening to the sound of Knockouts voice. He didn’t carry much of a conversation, but Breakdown was okay with it. He really didn’t feel like talking then. He also knew Knockout wasn’t really focused on what he was saying. He knew Knockout would have preferred to work in silence. He usually did when something was really important. He was thankful he was willing to distract him in that way yet still be good enough to fully focus on what he was doing. It kept Breakdown’s processor from replaying the horrors and causing flash backs. He healed from processor strain once with Knockout’s help and he would do so again. 

“Owww” Breakdown said as Knockout pulled on something. Before Knockout registered what happened Breakdown felt his frame tense and remembered nothing. 

When he came online Knockout was welding a patch over the socket of his missing optic. “Uuhh!” the restraints kept him from jumping and damaging his face and most likely Knockout’s finish too. “A flame in my face, something I definitely didn’t want to wake up to! Thanks Knockout. How long was my stasis nap?”

“Just be glad I noticed the change in your processor function and pulled back. Otherwise you would have startled me and I could have caused more damage if I dragged this across your faceplates.” He put the still red hot sauntering gun down. “I turned off the optic sensors rather than completely disabling them. You might decide you want it replaced one day. But until then the patch looks okay. Of course a new optic would have looked better.”He sat down next to Breakdown. “Your nice little nap lasted about four megacycles. That was the last of the repairs. How are you holding up? Are you ready for me to turn your pain receptors back on?” 

Breakdown was hesitant. It was true he was ready to feel again and had no doubt he could handle the physical pain. He had his doubts though what it would trigger in his mind. “I am-“ He was quiet for an astrosecond. “Yes, turn them on. I need to feel again.”

Knockout touched his faceplates. “Everything is repaired. There shouldn’t be any major pain though you might have some dull ache while the nanites boost your self- repairs, but we can wait.” 

“No, I need this” he repeated to himself as well as to the medic. He did need to feel again. He would deal with the aches if it meant he could feel Knockout’s hand again. Knockout stood and walked over to Breakdown's neck and his feeling returned. Knockout was wrong about that. It was more than a dull ache but nothing he couldn’t bear. He had been thought much worse. He couldn’t help but cringe though.   
“Breakdown? You still alright?”

“I’m fine Knockout.” He ex vented and tried to stand. “When can I pound the ones that did this?”

“Give it a few klicks” Knockout told him and lightly pushed him back on to the berth. “You aren’t cleared for anything yet and when I decide you are ready it won’t be to pound humans yet. You’ll have light duties which mean you’ll be solely my assistant until I say you are fit to be Megatrons solider again.”

“Well that isn’t the worst of assignments, I suppose.” It felt good to feel his touch. 

“Breakdown, don’t ever scare me like that again. The last thing I was sure of was the battle with the Autobot. When I heard you were taken, and not by them…” his optics lit in a new fury. He made circles on his faceplate under the welding seem with his thumb. “…and neither Megatron or Screamer would let me go on a rescue attempt, well I thought that would be the end of my spark.”  
He sat up and leaned into the smaller mech. You’re made out of sterner stuff than that. Just make sure whatever happens you end up on the winning team.” He couldn’t see Knockout doing anything but surviving. He was just a solider but Knockout was much more.

“You are so stubborn, Breakdown you are far more than that.”

“Thank you Knockout.” He told him but there was still something in the air.

“Breakdown, I am sorry about everything I promise I tried to. I never would have left-“

Breakdown shook his helm. “I know.” And he did Knockout would not desert him.  
Several klicks passed and they sat like that. Breakdown laughed and broke the tension.. “Knockout while we have this extra time, how about you teach me that human dialect you use when you get emotional. It seems to help you make a point.”

“Teach you German? Just download it from the humans grid. It is easier.”

“Yes, but less fun. Besides we have time while I heal and It will keep my processor busy instead of potentially- you know.”  
He had a point. “Okay first lesson”  
The rest of the orn went like that with new weapon designs, cleaning, checking his pain levels, and conversing in German. It was a few peaceful moments in the middle of war. An oasis. That OR became just that for the two of them on a regular basis. 

KNOCKOUT

It had been a typical orn on the Nemesis full of minor repairs and maintenance checks. Knockout was finishing repairs on the last of the winged vehicons who had sustained wing damage. “Did you try to fight back?” Knockout asked him as he welded the gashes. “Maybe flying off immediately would have been a better decision, hm?” The patient pulled away reflexively nearly causing Knockout to scorch himself with the flame. “Oww, anyway Regardless hold still I am almost done”  
The door of the med bay opened. Great, another patient. Knockout thought without even looking up. “Breakdown go ahead and set up for-“   
Starscream cut him off. “I am undamaged, thank you Doctor. Forgive me for interrupting but a stray energon signal has been located and Lord Megatron has requested that Breakdown investigate.”  
Knockout ex vented sharply. “Go on Breakdown I will follow you down in a few klicks.” 

“Take your time Knockout, Breakdown is going to do this one solo.” 

“Fine” he muttered not terribly disappointed. He had things to do and fighting or even running from Autobrats at the moment was not on his list of fun things to do. He heard Breakdown and Starscream leave and focused back on his patient. “Give that wing a few breems before you transform and try to fly on it and let the weld cool completely.” He turned the pain receptors back on and the vehicon confirmed that it was well and left. 

Knockout picked up where Breakdown left off cleaning tools and after a couple of breems suddenly felt uneasy. He tried to contact Breakdown only to get no answer. He must be in the middle of something. Knockout thought. No need to distract him if the Autobots tracked the signal too which is very likely. He then thought he heard his name in response. : Breakdown, please tell me you found a stash, there was no opposition, and you are headed back I could seriously use-: The sound of popping could be heard and Knockout thought the connection had been lost. : Breakdown? : The comm. link went dead and only static answered. He wasn’t sure how he knew but Knockout was so certain that something happened on the surface and that something was severely wrong with Breakdown. He dropped what he was doing and headed toward the bridge. Soundwave would have details. 

He was all but running down the corridor on his way to the bridge knocking vehicons out of his way as he brushed past. Starscream came around a corner and Knockout came within centimeters from crashing into him. How is it that HE is always in my way? Knockout thought trying to get around him.  
“What is the matter with you, Knockout? I have never seen you so restless. Where are you going in such a hurry? Worried about something, or someone?”

“Perhaps but it is nothing to you so let me take care of my business, unless I am not allowed to walk around the Nemesis anymore. “No. We picked up the signal there is no doubt the Autobots did as well. I was checking to see if Breakdown reported back. These missions go so much faster when we go together. WE would have them and be leaving already had you allowed me to go too, Herr Kommandant. I haven’t heard anything from him personally. He is not answering his comm. link so-“

Starscream smiled. Knockout knew that smile he often used it when he was planning something. “You are worried. Why? You don’t think he could fight off a few Autobots? Surely he could focus better on them if he didn’t have to worry about protecting your finish too, you know.”

Logically Starscream was right. He had to be fine and couldn’t answer right then because he was in the middle of scrapping some bots. He couldn’t understand why then it felt so wrong.   
“Perhaps I can help you Doctor-“ Starscream started to say but Knockout was determined to find out the truth and if Breakdown was in danger surly Megatron would see to it that he came back undamaged. He left before the commander could finish. 

Knockout attempted to contact Breakdown all the way to the bridge with no answer. He stepped on the bridge and Megatron turned. “Is there something I can help you with, Doctor.” The warlord asked

“Uh My Liege, I was, curious about the status of the energon and if Breakdown had returned. He has not answered my comm. and-“

“It was a trap and apparently Breakdown fell into it. Apparently he is unable to get out of it and if he is too weak to do so his fate is in his own hands”

“An Autobot trap? I was unaware they were so…creative. I am sure it would be easy with your fire power, my lord, to rescue Breakdown and use it as an excuse to take them out and finally end this. Commander Starscream and the armada-“

“A Human trap!” Megatron all but roared. “If he allowed himself to be taken by those smaller and weaker than him he deserves whatever they do to him.” Megatron dropped his voice. “I have already had this discussion with Starscream. The answer is NO! However if you are unable to do your job without an assistant you are free to choose another.” Megatron turned his back to Knockout. “I would hate to keep you from your work doctor.”

Knockout walked out of the bridge and back to the med bay in a fury. He had failed his best friend when he needed him the most and it was as if no one else cared. “Das wirst du noch bereuen” Knockout muttered to no one in particular though he thought of the humans, the Autobots and at that moment Megatron himself. And it would be sweet. He arrived at the door only to find Starscream was waiting for him.   
“What are you doing here, Starscream?” The last thing he needed was the commander taunting him.   
The commander shrugged. “I see our lord didn’t listen to you either. If you had not stormed off and actually listened to me I could have told you he wouldn’t. I also could have told you what happened to Breakdown and where he is. I am going down with some of the vehicons and we are going to help him overcome the humans more quickly.”

“Thank you commander. I will follow you down. Give me an astrosecond.”

“Doctor, you will do no such thing.” Starscream told him grabbing his arm. Knockout hissed “Try and stop me, commander!”  
“Tell me how you plan on leaving the Nemesis exactly.” Starscream answered as he pulled away from the smaller medic. “Surely not by ground bridge. That would only serve to let Megatron know exactly what we are doing. If this is to work the less of us who know about it the better. So unless you suddenly get wings you will stay right where you are. I would suggest getting the med bay ready for our return. I would advise you not to forget this when the time comes to choose a side” he whispered and left.

So that was Starscream’s reasoning for disobeying orders. He was trying to find those willing to mutiny when he ultimately decided it was time. Knockout watched the group of flyers leave the hanger and head to the planet. He could only do what Starscream suggested. He had no idea what kind of condition Breakdown would be in but he prepared for the worst. He scrubbed his surgical equipment again and polished the berths until they shown. He meticulously arranged everything in order as he anticipated needing them and set them up by one of the berths. If anything happened he would fix him. He would not be responsible for his partners off lining. He had no doubt who would be. He continued to promise Primus he would have revenge venting “Das Wrist du noch bereuen” He was lost in how he would carry it out that he didn’t hear the med bay door open.   
When he finally heard his name he scarcely believed what he saw. Primus, he thought, screamer did it. He grabbed Breakdown and just stood there transfixed with his helm on Breakdown’s chassis.   
“Knockout!”  
That was when he let go and backed up and actually saw Breakdown. “Breakdown, Wha-what have they done to you?” Knockout, while grateful he hadn’t off lined, was shocked at the amount of external damage. How much can one mech take? He knew what Breakdown had overcame before and he knew of no one with a greater pain tolerance, but this was unbelievable and for the first time Knockout was absolutely speechless.   
“I am unaware of the full extent as my pain receptors were off but that didn’t stop them from making me watch.” Breakdown sat on the nearest berth where Knockout set up his equipment. “If Starscream had been a few klicks later I feel that there would have been far less of me to make it back.”   
Thank Primus for small blessings. At least Primus doesn’t completely hate me, Knockout thought. Still he had lingering doubts. Breakdown didn’t feel anything but the trauma of seeing it all. Knockout felt his spark lurch at the thought. He didn’t want to think of Breakdown in that position. Knockout was the one who held Starscream up by fighting with him when he was making plans to stage a rescue. He was almost responsible for Breakdown off lining, not Starscream, not Megatron and not even the Humans, well ok they were but he was far from innocent. He had to focus. He fought to keep the lubricant that was pooling behind his optics from overflowing. Breakdown didn’t offline. He was here and Knockout would repair him. 

“You’re okay now” He held on to Breakdown’s shoulders in order to steady both of them. “Whenever you are ready will can see what they did and fix it, hm? Then we can plan our revenge. Into how many pieces do you think we can dissect a human?” Knockout asked him in all seriousness.

“Knowing you hundreds. Is that a promise or a bet?”

“Both, but first I will make you whole again.” Knockout smiled reassuringly and it was genuine as relief flooded his spark. 

“Let’s do this, Knockout.” Breakdown said after several nanoklicks. “I only hope I-my processor-that my battle protocols are completely off. I would hate to panic and hurt you. I’d throw myself out of an airlock in a nanoclick.”

“You are fine, you wont hurt me. I wouldn’t let you. I know you inside and out, remember” Knockout reminded him. “The quicker we do this the better.”

“Well the most obvious is your optic. It looks like the circuitry is still functional as they are trying to focus the mission optic so replacing it will be a breeze.”  
To his surprise Breakdown refused. “Just cover it with something. Save the resources for vital parts. I can manage with just one optic.” Knockout had no doubts of that but couldn’t understand why. As if reading his thoughts Breakdown continued. “I deserve nothing less.” He whispered and looked away.

“Breakdown don’t be ridiculous. It is easy enough and don’t punish yourself. You need to move on.” Knockout knew Breakdown well enough that he would want this scar . He also knew the judgmental looks from the others were just an excuse. He would get those anyway and it angered Knockout. The only clue he gave about his feelings was shaking his helm. “Fine have it your way, stubborn mech. I will turn them off but not completely disable them in case you ever change your mind, and you will in turn allow me to give you a weapons upgrade. Don’t argue with me!”  
He pushed him back gently onto the berth. “I know you can’t feel anything right now but because of what you went through I can put you in stasis. There is no need for further trauma to your processor.” Knockout told Breakdown connecting the cables to Breakdown’s medical ports.

“No. I’ll be okay. You will stop for a Klick if I start to panic, right?”  
Knockout was touched by his partner’s trust now. He had been saying “trust me” more times than he could count and now, he finally did. “Of course, but I will keep you distracted enough that it shouldn’t even be necessary.” He looked at the crude seam in his armor in disbelief. He could only imagine how long it took them to cut through his thick armor with their tools. It was a waste considering it transforms back. Were the humans completely clueless about armor, did they not try to protect their own squishy parts with something solid. They knew how to disengage his pain receptors but it never occurred there is an easier way to get to his chassis? Knockout was now convinced they humans were hopeless. If Lord Megatron wanted to take the planet, he’d save a few for racing and have no problem taking out the rest. 

“Can you still transform your armor? I’d hate to cut it again.”   
Breakdown complied. “Good” Knockout told him as he repaired the superficial side damage and the damaged energon lines. He drained the decaying energon away. “There are easier ways to get energon samples” Knockout muttered more to himself than Breakdown. “This is insane.” He ran a deep scan. Were they trying to dissect him? I don’t see how they could have learned anything in this mess. “ I have no idea what they had in mind here and I am not sure they even knew. What would you say if I gave them a demonstration of how to do a proper dissection using their leader, what did he call himself, Silas? You’d assist me, I am sure? “

“I would insist on it.”

“Here comes the worst part, sorry Breakdown.” The whine of Knockouts saw filled the room. “Remember when we first met and you had half a building in your back? You kept trying to convince Motormaster you were fine.”

“Yeah and I thought you were far more interesting in primping than helping me.”

“I was just tired. It had been a long orn.”

“I am thankful you saved my sorry aft, then and now.”  
Knockout adjusted positions working toward the bottom of his chassis. “Yes, but you returned the favor. I escaped the slugs without much damage after all. I even brought one with me that night. I hoped to study it but even dead those things are creepy.”

“I never knew that. Here I was thinking you told me everything.”

“I tell you the important things. Like the worst part is over.” His saw became a hand again. “Besides, I didn’t think you would be interested. Do you need a klick?”

“No, I am okay, go on and get it over with.”  
Knockout was once again amazed by Breakdown’s strength. He knew it had to be wearing on him. He was almost jealous. Knockout worked his way through coolant and energon veins repairing them carefully with his smallest welder. He froze when he reached the spark chamber, it was then that he realized just how close Breakdown came to off lining for good. Holes had been drilled in all the casing and had they been a couple more centimeters deeper they would have pierced it and a few more beyond that would have pierced his spark. There was no fluid around it this time fortunately. He was unsure how due to the damaged coolant lines surrounding the chamber. Primus might not care much for me but he loves Breakdown. Knockout thought. He grabbed the heat activated sealant and filled the holes and welded them shut. 

“Building me a new spark chamber again Doc?”

“No, fortunately that isn’t necessary this time. I am just repairing some, uh some, cracks.” He hoped his voice didn’t give away the fact he was lying. He didn’t want to cause Breakdown to panic now of all times. 

“If you say so. I trust you.” Breakdown ex vented and off lined his optic. “You brought a slug back? Why? I can’t see anything about them worth studying. I see no use in them other than they are fun to smash.”

“You said they digested decaying energon but preferred to suck fresh energon right? I thought they could be used as seekers, they talk less and are less annoying than our current flying seekers.” He laughed. “They could potentially be useful in surgery as well. Did you know humans used a form them to drain supposedly bad blood from their own bodies. I think they called theirs leeches. It is primitive but energon does decay like this pooling in the cracks inside your armor and around in your chassis….”  
“Disgusting, Knockout. I trust you but I do have my limits and there I draw the line. You will not put those in my body. Squishies truly are stupid.”  
Knockout laughed. “You never know. “ He noticed a round shiny device stuck to the underside of Breakdown’s chassis. “What is this? It looks like they took parts from you and left you something in return.” He noticed a small foreign device that looked like a tracking device attached to the underside of his armor. He noticed it when he dried up the energon. He pulled. It was like a powerful magnet. 

“Oww” Breakdown said

“How did you feel that?” Knockout asked concerned. It was just a magnet, he thought. “Breakdown?”   
The alarms went off as Breakdown convulsed and fell into stasis.  
“Breakdown?” His spark pulsed sharply “No Breakdown, don’t you go anywhere on me. Not after this.” He adjusted the EM fields surrounding his spark slowing it back to a steady rhythm and his vitals returned to normal. He put the disc aside. He would worry with that later. He finished the work and repaired the rest of the damage to his limbs. He decided to wait to wake Breakdown after he finished just in case all his pain receptors were back online again. He moved to the optic and cleaned the debris that he missed from before. “I wish you would let me fix this. I’d give you mine if I thought it would make up for my not being there.” He told the recharging mech. 

He found a suitable patch and was sauntering it on his face plates when the alerts went off again. Breakdown was coming around and Knockout moved but not quickly enough.   
“Breakdown on lined with a start. “A flame in my face was just what I wanted to wake up to. Thank you for that experience. How long was my, uh nap?”

“Just be glad I was alerted to your change in consciousness when I was or I would have dragged this across you faceplates. You were out for a few megacycles. Are you okay? I removed the tracking device and it disrupted you EM fields throwing you into stasis. I was worried you would be in pain if you came around after that so I left you in stasis and finished up.”

“I am fine. I am numb again. That was one strange sensation. Like being stung by a swarm of cyberwasps.” He shook his helm. “I am numb again, mostly.”

“You want your receptors back on, or should we wait awhile?” Knockout noticed his hesitancy. “Just whenever you are ready, I am in no hurry.”

“Now is good. I need to feel again.”  
Knockout touched Breakdown’s face. Everything is repaired. If anything it should be a dull ache while the nannites speed your self- repair systems along but we can wait.”  
“Do it.”  
Knockout reached and adjusted the cables in his neck. “Done” 

“I am fine.” Breakdown stated and tried to stand. “When can we pound M.E.C.H? I need revenge.”  
Knockout smiled. “Soon enough, but you aren’t cleared for that yet.” He pushed Breakdown back on the berth and sat beside him. “You have light duty first before you fight. In other words you are strictly my assistant. When you heal you can go back to being Megatron’s best solider. 

“I have had worse assignments.”  
It was now Knockout’s turn to ex vent. He drew small circles along the seam of Breakdown’s optic patch. “Don’t scare me like that again. You were far too close to off lining for good. When I heard you were taken and Megatron nor Starscream would let me make a rescue attempt I thought I would offline.  
Breakdown sat up. “You are made of stronger stuff than that, doc. Just make sure whatever happens you are on the winning team.”  
Knockout didn’t like where the conversation was going. “I will offline before you, Breakdown, this proves it. You make sure you are on the winning team. And we will be, together. “  
Breakdown only shook his helm. “Thank you Knockout.” He whispered. 

Several klicks passed in silence before Breakdown broke it. “Teach me that human dialect you use to make a point with or when you get really angry. You were muttering it when I came in the med bay.”

“ You mean German? Why don’t you just download it from the human’s grid. It is much faster.” Knockout was amused. He also didn’t realize he fell into it when he was angry. 

“True, but it will be more fun this way. Besides we have a lot of time together anyway. “  
Knockout only laughed. He was right about that. “Ok first lesson…”  
They practiced conversing in German and used it around the Nemesis. That time together became like an oasis of peace in the desert of war.

 

NOTE: I have an idea for two more chapters including Breakdown's death chapter but I have not written them yet. I am unsure if I am going to. Comments?


	9. These Dreams

Chapter 9 These Dreams: Breakdown  
“Knockout,” he called walking back into the med bay unable to understand why the crimson medic didn’t answer him over his comm. link. “I have to admit it was more of a challenge that I had anticipated. She was fierce but see I am here nothing to worry about. I keep my promises .Knockout, Knockout?”   
The door opened and he found Knockout sitting on an exam berth with his helm in his hands. He looked up as Breakdown walked in but said nothing. It was like the smaller mech was suddenly unable to see the large blue wrecker standing in front of him and was instead looking through him. He wiped optical lubricant away and stood up slowly walking toward the larger mech. “I am far from fine Lord Megatron”, he muttered to himself. “But I will get by. You will never know the difference. I will though. Nothing will ever again be like it was before.” He mindlessly began cleaning the surgical tools he Breakdown was working on before he left for the mission with Arachnid and Dreadwing. He never once seemed to notice his company.  
“Knockout, what are you talking about? What in the pit is wrong with you?” Breakdown all but screamed at his partner. Anger was beginning to over ride his worry but Knockout only continued with his monologue. “Pit spawn traitor, fragging war, fragging protocols that prevented me from saying the things that really needed to be said. I am so very sorry. You knew though. You had to know. You have to know how I felt. How I still feel.”

“Sorry for what Knockout?” Breakdown screamed leaning right into knockout’s face. “What cant you say? What, specifically, should I already know? I think I know you pretty well.” What was wrong with his partner’s optics? Why could he not see and were they…leaking? Surely Knockout wasn’t crying!? Was he? His actions and words were extremely odd  
Knockout continued ignoring Breakdown once again. “I should have gone with you but there was really no reason outside my own fears. It should have been an easy mission you should have been able to handle it. You lied to me. You never lied to me before. It should have been Dreadwing. Primus, it was your temper wasn’t it. You usually control it so well but after MECH I saw how you react. Why couldn’t you let it go this time? I should have been there. Both with MECH and this time. I saved you then. Breakdown I am so very sorry. I was supposed to go first! Primus, you messed up. I was supposed to go first! I am sorry for failing you then and now. “He kicked the desk and solvents splashed on him. He didn’t seem to notice. “Conjux” he whispered almost inaudibly. “Love you”

“Knockout” Breakdown screamed, “I am right here” He threw himself at the red mech and heard only a crash.  
Breakdown came out of recharge with a start venting hard. He cleared his optics and looked around. That was not the first time this lunar cycle that he had experienced what could only be what the humans called a nightmare. His HUD readings were somewhat out of whack and he needed to ask Knockout about it. Knockout was nowhere to be seen but there was another crash in the lab. Breakdown jumped up quickly and ran in to find the medic on the floor with pieces of the device he had removed from Breakdown earlier and a data pad. 

“Are you going to stand there gawking at me or will you lend me a servo?”

It was only then that he realized he was staring like an idiot at Knockout and went over and picked him up. “You can see me?” he said sounding a little surprised with relief pouring into his voice.   
“Naturally, now put me down before you scratch my finish,” he looked at his chassis and legs and added, “worse than it already is.”  
Breakdown laughed softly and set him back. “I am sorry. I uh heard you and was worried.”  
The red mech smiled. “Worried about what? I didn’t mean to disturb your recharge but I have been unable to recharge myself lately and I didn’t mean to bother you. Is there anything I can do for you?” His optics bright with genuine concern.

“I have been having recharge trouble lately too.” Breakdown confessed. “I fear it may interfere with my focus. None of my internal diagnostics show any problems.”  
Now Knockout looked worried. “Really? What kind of trouble exactly and When did it start?” he asked picking the data pad back up and looking at it intently.

“Don’t really know.” Breakdown didn’t want to admit that it had been shortly after his return to the warship after the encounter with MECH because he knew that Knockout and the others would assume that the experience pushed him over the edge. He often thought the others believed him to be unstable already and that was the last thing he needed.   
Knockout smiled sadistically. “Liar.” His smile grew softer. “I can’t help you if you don’t tell me.” He stepped closer. “Trust me!”

“Doctor/Patient privilege?” Breakdown asked.

“As if that is all the confidence you have in me, then yes, Breakdown, as your doctor…”He locked the doors to the medbay with a loud click that was impossible to miss. 

“It started shortly after the incident with MECH.” He looked at the floor. “I didn’t say anything because, well because, I am not losing it. I am not crazy and unstable, Knockout!” He set in the chair beside the berth.”But, I am having trouble processing memories, it is as if it is unconscious processing happening but nothing shows up on my HUD as it is supposed to when that does occur. That and the images are not memories, they are more like played out fears. It is what I imagine the humans mean when they use the word nightmare.”

“Would it help if I told you I am convinced you are definitely not losing it? Why do you think I am up at this time of morning?”  
He motioned for Breakdown to follow him and picked up the small device that he removed from Breakdown that caused him to fall into stasis while he was being repaired after the incident with MECH. “I have been having similar problems and I have run a full diagnostic on myself and since you have come in and confessed this I want to do one on you.” Clearly Breakdown’s face must have showed his unease with that comment. He hated the idea. “I expect you to check out fine. I did. I just want to confirm something. You will think I am going off the deep end but I am sure it has to do with the device.”  
Breakdown took it and flipped it in his hand. He noticed then the Cybertronian glyph on it. “Where did MECH get a Cybertronian artifact and what is it?

“I have no idea where they got it but if it is what I think it is…Breakdown things could get interesting and as for our nightmares things could get frightening fast. Tell me please, what was the nature of your unconscious processing?”

Breakdown tensed up immediately. ”Not pleasant. It was as if you could no longer see or hear me and was going on as if I had joined the Allspark. You kept saying there was something you wanted me to know and kept apologizing that you never had the chance to tell me.”

Knockout shuttered his optics and looked away.”Mine were of you offlining, permanent and I onlined just before my death, every time” He looked back at his partner and handed him the pad he had been reading. “This is what I have found so far. The primitive Cybertronians were superstitious but some believed in seers and that there was a stone that would allow anyone who carried it in their chassis to be able to see the future or at least a possible future.”

Breakdown couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “You think we are seeing my death?”

“I know it is crazy but when all possible explanations have been ruled out whatever is left no matter how improbable has to be the answer. It may not be the future just a possible future.”

“Tell me Knockout. What is it you want to tell me?” he smiled one he reserved only for Knockout and usually when he was buffing him.

“I think you know.”

“I want to hear it”

“Breakdown, my con…” Just then the door chime furiously and he could hear the code being over ridden

“Doctor I need your assistance, NOW” Megatron said storming in energon pouring from his shoulder.   
Breakdown quickly grabbed what he would need and prepared to help Knockout in whatever way he could. Primus frag the timing.


	10. These Dreams Pt 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The last chapter from Knockouts POV

The ground shook and the smoke from the explosions filled his vents. He sputtered, clearing them quickly and focused once again on the patient laying on the make shift operating berth in front of him. "Come on you big lug, you survived far worse than this, " the crimson mech all but growled. He was once again elbow deep in his partner’s chassis. "This" he thought" was not supposed to be part of the gig". He was supposed to be working from the comfort of the nemesis med bay not out here running the risk of offlining himself or worse, destroying his perfect finish. "it would serve me right though. This was after all his fault. Why didn’t he just let him go alone again. He was no body guard what did he think would happen. Another explosion rocked the ground and the wall to his left collapsed. The other surgeon was now offline along with a third of the wounded. 

"Scrap!" he swore. "Just what I need more debris everywhere including inside the patients." He heard the sound of a blaster charging behind him and he froze.

"It wont matter doctor. Soon he will just be one more causality in the war that won’t end and so will you and the rest of his followers.”

“Traitor!” he screamed at the spider in front of him. He instinctively tried to shield the berth in front of him. He ex-vented knowing the illogic of it yet needing to protect his partner who always protected him. Well until now. 

“I am loyal only to myself, not to the deceptions and certainly not to that weak fool who tried to kill me. He sent this weak fool to do his dirty work.” Using one of her legs she threw the small mech out of the way , with another arm picked up the large blue mech’s body and threw it. She blasted it with the other hand and turned the weapon to Knockout.

Knockout violently shook himself out of recharge. “Okay that is quite enough of that” he told himself as he got out of his berth as quietly as possible and went into one of the exam rooms. He scanned his processor again and almost missed it again. There was a small energy signature that faded as quickly as he connected the scanners. It was alien yet his defenses did nothing. Why? That was one question he couldn’t answer. There was only one thing that had changed since the disturbing images had been playing through his processor. 

He walked back into the lab and picked up the relic that he pulled from Breakdown’s chassis earlier. He noticed it for the first time. A Cybertronian glyph was stamped on the front of it. “how is this even possible. This definitely isn’t human technology and there is no way they could copy it.” He began pulling out old research on some of the relics and what he discovered was impossible. 

The ancients were superstitious that is sure but even they couldn’t have believed this, could they? The device was supposedly from Alchemist Prime’s lenses, and while not actually having the ability to manipulate time like his brother Vector Prime, the fact that he had a hand in creating it allowed him to see the future and at least prepare for possibilities. 

“Nonsense, complete nonsense.” Knockout muttered as he transformed his hand into his scalpel and began to cut the device open. Suddenly he was hit with an energon blast and collapsed.

Once again he was looking down at the empty socket where the golden optic used to be. Come on Breakdown. You have been in stasis far too long now and there is absolutely nothing wrong with you. Wake up!!!” Knockout was getting desperate now. His spark was getting weaker and weaker. “There is no internal bleeding. I have sealed every energon vein, Come on!” The alarms sounded and the light behind his optic faded completely. “Breakdown, NO!”

The next thing Knockout was aware of was that optic once again staring at him, this time from above.

“Knockout, Knockout?” He asked shaking him.

“ Are you going to stand there gawking or are you going to help me up?” Knockout asked feeling both relieved and annoyed. 

“Knockout, you can see me!” instead of simply giving him a hand he picked the smaller mech up completely.

“Breakdown, of course I can see you. My optics are functioning perfectly thank you. I am not sure about the rest of my body. Now will you kindly put me down before you scratch my finish.” He noticed the dents and scratched already covering his frame. “before you scratch my finish worse.”

“Sorry, I heard you and was… concerned.”

As soon as Knockout’s feet were back on the ground he ex-vented in a way that was just like a human sigh. “Worried? About what? My uh…fall?” He laughed without humor. “ I am fine. I apologize for disturbing your recharge.” That was when he realized something was off with his partner. “Something is bothering you? Whats going on? Recharge troubles too?”

The larger mech looked away. “yeah actually there is” he said after hesitating. “I am experiencing some unconscious processing and I fear if it continues it may interfere with my duties. I ran my on diagnostics and came up with nothing.”

Now it was Knockout’s turn to be worried but he hid it well. “When did it start? What kind of unconscious processing?” He was already running external scans and he thought it might already be too late to see if that energy signature tracing was left in Breakdown’s net. 

“Shortly after the incident with the, the humans.” He answered barely above a whisper. 

“No one is here this hour, Breakdown. Sit down. I want to see something.” He motioned toward the berth and locked the doors. 

“Knockout?”

It’s nothing, Breakdown. It has been happening to me recently too and I noticed a slight energy trace left in my processor but it faded before I could get a good reading. Let me see if you may have something similar.” Knockout had already began before he finished explaining things to his partner. “Now tell me, What kind of unconscious processing? What kind of imagery?”

“Nothing.” He hesitated again. “I mean I can’t remember.”

“Liar!” It just happened. There is nothing wrong with your processor. I remember in vivid detail what happened in mine and I cant help you if you insist on withholding important information. Now for the ten millionth time, you have to trust me!” He was struggling to keep his voice even and the anger out of it. “The doors are locked.”

“Yours?”

“Yes, Breakdown, but we are not here to discuss mine.” His frustration beginning to pour through. 

“Doctor Patient privilege?”

“Breakdown if after all this that is then only trust you have in me then fine. You are one difficult mech!”

“It was after the MECH incident. It was like I was seeing memories of things that didn’t happen. It was as if you were unable to see me standing in front of you and you were speaking as if I had been terminated. I am not crazy and I want no one to believe that I am.”

“If you are then I am.” Knockout confessed. “And I don’t think either of us are.” Knockout told him about his experiences and pulled out the artifact. “No one else has reported any such disturbances and we are the only ones who have been in contact with this. I have picked it back up recently.” He gave Breakdown the data pads. “When all the possible causes have been disproven all that is left no matter how improbable must be true.”

Breakdown scanned the pad and shook his helm in disbelief. “So we are seeing my death?”

“Only a possible future, Breakdown, and that is still assuming much. I haven’t been able to open it yet. I want to know what it is, really. And why the humans had it.”

He began to once again attempt to take it apart. Slowly this time. 

“Knockout, what were you trying to tell me in my visions?”

Knockout stopped what he was doing for a moment and looked up. “I think you know.” He said smiling.

“Yeah. Say it!”

“Right my conj-“

At that moment the sound of the lock being over ridden echoed in the sick bay. Megatron ran in, energon pouring from his shoulder. 

“Knockout, Help me! Now!”

“Breakdown get-“ But Breakdown was already way ahead of him and Knockout noticed all his tools were right beside him. Yes, he thought. My conjux anticipates my every move. What he said was “My liege what happened” and quickly went to work. He would finish with Breakdown later.

**Author's Note:**

> Each chapter will have Breakdowns take on the events followed by Knockout's


End file.
